Level 30
by linkinparkfan9799
Summary: Lucy and Yuka enroll into Cross Academy, but does the familiar face of a Zero Kiryu bring along a breed of diclonius-vampie-like people, or is it the Queen of Diclonius who can't remember before her 11th birthday herself?
1. Level 1

**First ever crossover for me! Hope you enjoy! P.S: Do not own Vampire Knight or Elfen Lied.**

Ever get that anonymous feeling that you're being watched? That's what you get for being cooped up in a lab for years. I tap my feet and shift every thirty seconds in the chair next to the door, waiting for Mr. Cross, the headmaster of my new school Cross Academy. Nana is hoping to get in despite her age, and Kota? Well, he's going to be left in charge of the house while Yuka, Nana, and I are at school. It sucks, mostly, since we can only break school so much, but it's cool all at once because people here don't know I'm a Diclonius. I wince at the thought of my horns, since they broke off. Trust me, horn regeneration is _N-A-S-T-Y_. The door opens and a girl walks in with a uniform. She smiles at us and walks over to the desk, pulling out flashcards and two folders. I have my guesses that she's the headmaster's daughter. I roll my eyes and cross my arms, Yuka sighing and smiling back at the girl. The girl sits down and opens the files, then pushes one away, it obviously Yuka's. I notice mine doesn't exist, so I drop my arms and slam them hard on the arms of the chair, trying to control my breathing so I don't go bonkers and decapitate everyone in the room. Nana sighs and walks over, patting my back and kneeling next to me.

The girl huffs and stands. "Great, I can't find another file!"

I stare at her. Nana smacks my back a spot one of my four vectors was hiding under and she slams into the wall across the room, nearly missing the window. I gulp and look at Yuka, who's raising a brow. "She hit a spot," I simply state, receiving a nod in reply.

The girl doesn't mind, which makes it easier for me, and shuffles through a variety of papers looking for my file. I tug on my cap nervously, feeling an itch between my snapped horns. Great, just great; when they're still bleeding to! I feel the top of my cap to feel the bleeding stage beginning once again. I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes, thinking hard about something to get my mind off. I think about a poem by Gary Soto called 'Looking Around, Believing' and try to remember the lines.

'Looking Around, Believing'

By Gary Soto

How strange that we can begin at any time

With two feet we get down the street

With a hand we undo the rose

With an eye we lift up the peach tree

And hold it up to the wind-white blossoms

At our feet. Like today. I started

In the yard with my daughter

With my wife poking at a potted geranium

And now I'm walking down the street

Amazed the sun is only so high

Just over the roof, and a child

Is singing through a rolled newspaper

And a terrier is leaping like a flea

And at the bakery, I pass, a palm

Like a suctioning starfish, is pressed

To the window. We're keeping busy-

This way, that way we're making shadows

Dang it…what were the last two lines? UGH! I grip my horns, only making the blood flow worse, and I hear a heavy slam of papers. I look up to see the girl, wide eyed. I feel at my head to find the cap off and my head a bleeding mess. I wince as the horns sting and the girl yanks open drawers to get a first aid kit, rushing over and working as best as she can to get the bleeding to stop. Sure, I wince here and there, but sooner or later, the pain stops. I feel at my horns to find bandages only on the cuts inside. I look up at the girl, who's just staring at me like I wasn't horned. I blink and blink, just not getting it.

"Uh," I start, "thanks…"

"Anytime!" she smiles. "So, where'd you get the horns? They're pretty with the pink hair."

I blush at the compliment. "I was born with them, and the pink hair, and…Yuka, can I take out these stupid lenses before my _eyes _start to itch?"

She simply nods, smiling, and I carefully dislodge the lenses out of my eyes. My red irises flicker in and out of the lids, gathering back the lost moisture, and I pocket the lenses, not sure why I was so insecure in the first place. Hide the set of horns; that's all I need to do. The eyes I can just say were a disfiguration or something and the hair I can just say I dyed it that way or yet another disfiguration. This girl knows about my horns now, so it's useless to just keep it from her.

"Huh, well, I guess you're not a vampire or sea monster or anything," the girl giggles.

I blink. I ran into a vampire once, but I just ripped it apart with my vectors and lived in the house I found it in for a bit. "Do you actually believe that stuff?"

She freezes. "W-Why you ask?"

It's obvious she's _going _through it. "Yuka, have you ever ran into a vampire?"

She thinks about it and nods. "It was just a pass by. You could tell."

Nana raises a brow. "Let me guess, you to Lucy?"

I smirk. "Let's just say it didn't live long."

The girl frowns. "Uh…"

"Don't worry," I reinsure, "we won't kill any vampires here. Well, as long as they don't kill anyone."

She gulps. "Uh…not all vampires kill necessarily…"

"We know," Nana squeaks. "We'll just beat up the vampires that break rules!"

I nod in agreement. "But kill any Level E's. I did some research and you can't believe what you can get from being a Diclonius!"

She raises a brow. "Di-clo-ni-us?"

I nod. "A Diclonius is what I'm called. So is Nana here," I point to Nana who waves at the girl in turn and the girl faces me once again. "We have natural: horns, pink hair, red or pink eyes, and," I point to my back, "vectors."

"Vectors are," she raises a brow.

"Vectors-Invisible arms of a Diclonius that vary in length and number. Highest number being twenty-six so far and length I believe is 11ft," Nana informs.

The girl blinks. "They were near four yards?"

I nod. "That's not the Queen sadly. The queen has four vectors that reach up to 2meters."

The girl shifts her little brown bob to one side, her brown eyes, blinking and her fifteen-year-old self swaying slightly. "Who's the Queen? Is she nice? What did she do to become the Queen?"

Quite the friendly question mark, huh? I chuckle. "The Queen is the origin of all Diclonius. The Queen is nice when she wants to be-"

"Oh don't be full of you," Nana mutters.

I chuckle and the girl smiles warmly. "Huh, that has to be hard to be the queen."

I nod. "I'm the one a certain facility wants to kill the most."

"Huh?"

Yuka sighs and I nod at her for her to take a turn. "There's this facility that captures Diclonius and performs tests or kills them off the bat. They had her, Lucy, for a while until she escaped and met Kota, a friend of ours, and me, Yuka. We found her on the beach one day."

"That's what you get for drifting," I mutter. "Plus, they shot me in the head."

"Ouch!" the girl cringes, sitting down in a chair.

"Well, I lived of course," I chuckle. "What happened was that when my head was hit, I went a bit 'off the block' and turned into someone else completely. All I said was 'Nyuu', so that's what they named my double personality."

Yuka resumes the story. "Anyways, we hid her from these police men who apparently were associated with the facility and eventually found this girl, Mayu, who ran from her home because of certain things," she censors thankfully. "Later, Nana here was sent to kill Lucy, but of course-"

"Lucy won," Nana mutters, unscrewing one of her plastic arms. "I have two vectors that are longer, but more beats longer I guess…"

The girl blinks and turns to me. "Did you have to cut off her-"

"Arms and legs," I finish, "and yeah. I wanted to live and…it's complicated."

Well, saying that vectors don't come out in a state of pain will NOT be good, even if she is trustworthy. I mean, you never know if anyone's eavesdropping, and that'd just be too much. The girl nods and Yuka smiles. "What about you?"

The girl sighs. "I don't remember anything before I was five. I don't remember any parents, home, or siblings, and I was attacked by a Level E vampire. One of the vampires here saved me and took me here. The headmaster adopted me like I was his own and four years ago-"

The door opens and a boy with silver hair comes through. "Yuki, where's the headmaster?"

Yuki blinks. "Uh…hi…Zero…" she looks at us. "Um…why would you think I would…know per chance?"

"Just answer," he grumbles.

"He's by the gate," I intervene. "He's should be walking here by now." Zero stares at me, then I remember my cap was off. "This is CR*P!"

I cover my horns with my left arm and snatch the hat from the floor, stretching it over my horns and holding it in my hands slumping and bringing my feet in front of any empty eat in front of me. Zero looks at Yuka and then at Nana, who has her 'dad's old tie around her horns. He faces me and raises a brow. He gently puts a hand in his pocket, staring at me as if wondering if I was a vampire or not.

"No, I'm not vampire," I grumble. "I'm something different."

He raises a brow and Yuki and Yuka sit together, talking about if they should just explain here or try and get me to explain so I'd be more comfortable with it. Yeah, like that'd help. His light purple eyes won't lift from my pink bob of shoulder-length hair, making me slightly uncomfortable. Nana sits next to me again and pats my back, hitting the new spot the same vector she hit hid under and it punched her upright the face, breaking her nose.

"OW!" she screams.

"You keep hitting my vectors!" I hiss, trying to only let her hear.

"What's a vector?" Zero wonders, crossing his arm.

Man is he suspicious. I huff and snap my face to meet his. "A vector is an invisible arm that belongs to a race called Diclonius that varies in length and number!"

I turn back to Nana and realize that Yuki left the first aid kit. I pick it up and start treating it, first snapping it back with my own fingers. I'm stuck trying to stop the bleeding when a blonde, mid-aged man walks in, smiling and wearing some green poncho-scarf on his shoulders. He stares at me, which I can't really blame him, and he blinks, walking back to his seat. He sits down and I observe his face and use what Diclonius I am to see if he's a vampire. No, but, he has traces of vampire on him. So does Zero.

"What's with the vampire traces?" I ask, removing the blood-soaked cloth from Nana's nose.

The headmaster smiles and shuts his eyes, still smiling. "Are you in a vampire hunter family?"

I shake my head. "I just know them."

He opens his eyes and raises a brow at me. I feel my head again and curse something that should get my mouth washed when I realized I dropped the cap when I went to help Nana. CURSE HELPING PEOPLE! I go for the cap and Zero snatches it, making me use a vector to snap his right wrist with the hat and snatch it quickly with another vector, plopping it above my horns on its side. I glance at Yuka to find her head in her hands, and Yuki smiling nervously. I guess she's not mad at me, but she's probably gathering that Zero's going to munch my head off. Yeah, like I'm letting that happen. Zero snaps his wrist to the correct position the best he can and I roll my eyes, standing up and grabbing his wrist, rolling it a bit before pushing it into the arm. I let go and he flexes his fingers, staring at it blankly.

"Fixed," I state, facing the headmaster. "Now, can you explain this whole vampire-human school thing to me? I don't think it was in the brochure."

I swear I saw Zero crack a small grin. The headmaster chuckles and stands up, doing odd poses that I chose to ignore, saving Nana the trouble and covering her eyes. "My dream goal is to end the dark and bloody past of vampires and humans! To accomplish that, I made Cross Academy! Cross Academy has two classes, Night and Day. The Day class students, so far, are human. The Night class students, so far, are just vampires. During the Day, the humans take their lessons and then switch with the Night Class for the Night Classes to have their lessons! Of course, we have guardians," he gestures at Zero and Yuki, "to make sure the secret stays safe!"

I blink. "To summarize, Night Class students are the vamps."

He freezes and drops his head like I just butchered all his fun. "That's the basic point."

I blink and look at the white sash on Zero's arm, a similar one on Yuki's. "I thought that was just part of the uniforms. Anyways, by the looks of things, Zero is useless."

"HOLD ON!" Zero growls menacingly towards me, furious. "_I'm _not the useless one!"

"Hey!" Yuki stands.

I shake my head. "Well, whoever is the useless is up to you, but the point is only one has any use! Don't you think you should get Yuka or Nana to at least help out?" Yuki smiles at the idea, but he grin on the headmaster's face nearly gives me a heart attack. "NO THANK YOU! Helping already bit my head off before, and I just got my head back!"

"You said it yourself," Zero mutters.

I slam his side with a vector. "I'd shut up if I was you."

He pulls out a gun, one with 'Bloody Rose' on the side. "Do that again, and you're dead."

I blink and push the gun away with a vector gently. "Calm down, snow top," I grumble. "I have an excuse for being violent, but I'd like to hear yours."

Yuka twiddles her thumbs and looks up at the headmaster. "Sorry, her kind has short tempers."

"She has the shortest because she's the original," Nana whispers.

Zero pulls the trigger and barely misses me. "HEY!" I scold. "They're talking about Diclonius here!"

"I don't believe that SH*T," he growls.

"Well, believe it," I snarl, "because _vampires don't have horns and pink hair with eyes!_"

I grip the gun tighter with the vector and I hear a slight groan escape it. Yuki grows wide eyes and hits the ground, not wanting to be hit by anything whether it hurt humans or not. I sigh and release it. I sit back down and Nana sits in front of my legs, humming 'Mockingbird' (not the one by Eminem). Zero rolls his eyes and looks back at the Chairman. The Chairman clears his throat and I stop humming, everyone staring at him.

"Yuki, Zero, after you clear up the mess at the Moon dormitories, can you lead these two to their dorms?"

Nana's jaw drops low, making it look like it's disconnected. "T-Two of us, you said?"

The Chairman sighs. "You're a bit too young sadly."

Nana's head drops and I stand up quick, pushing the hat against my horns. "I'll get her home, Yuk-"

"Oh no, you're staying," Yuka snaps.

"What? No!"

"Come on, what is the big deal?"

"The big deal is that I'd…" I glance around and walk over, leaning next to her ear, "like to go home because you forced me to do this in the first d*m place!"

I lean back and Yuka sighs, shaking her head. "Just please, Lucy."

I sigh. Too bad I can't use my vectors. "Oh fine, but I swear the next opportunity to go home, I'm taking it, got it?"

She nods and leads Nana out. I lean against the right wall of the door, waiting for Zero and Yuki. Zero storms out, Yuki bidding me to follow and I do so, fidgeting with the cap so it's low on my head. The blood is warm and sticky, getting thicker and thicker due to the enclosed space with my horns. I feel the blood bubbling on the surface of my horns and wince as the bones start to heal up once again. Of course they don't notice, and I'm sort of glad they don't I feel blood trickle down and splatter against my shoulder, making me stop and stare at a strand of pink hair now red. I curse under my breath and start shoving my hair into the cap, taking off the cap in annoyance and blood pouring down my face, splattering on my uniform, and the feeling of a sick stomach coming along. I cover my mouth with my left hand to prevent from puking and Yuki and Zero just continue, thinking I'm behind them or just not caring. My stomach lurches up and I puke in my mouth, the stomach twisting horribly. I scrunch my eyes tight and think multiple curses. Does this happen every time I go to school? I bet my instincts just want me to get out, and this time _I agree_. Yet, I really don't want to be sick in order to get out, that's too much medication (in my cases). I hear a door open and start to make my way forward, wincing as my horns pulsate. Great, puke and blood? That's just F*CKING great! I feel a hand on my shoulder and shrug it off, my stomach NOT reacting well. I puke more in my mouth, giving myself the urge to open my mouth and get it _out_. The person starts guiding me towards the door, my right hand over both horns for longer than I realize. The door opens.

"Kiryu, I think you forgot someone," a deep, calm voice rings next to me.

A momentary silence, save for the rumbling churning my stomach roars out. That's when Yuki sees my sick expression. "Oh, Lucy, are you alright?"

I shake my head, both hands in fists from annoyance. The set of hands once guiding me released my greenish body, Yuki's hands patting my back and clutching my wrist now in place. I follow her without protest, and my stomach lurches once more. My eyes bulge open, my lips pressing harder against each other to prevent from letting a downpour of vomit come into any view. I wouldn't mind if it came into Zero's, but Yuki and the other were nice, so I decide to let Zero have some of my rare mercy. I turn to a male brunette with dark brown-crimson eyes. He's pale (who isn't?) and wearing a reverse colored uniform from Zero's. He smiles at Yuki, making my stomach lurching more (I'm F*CKING serious). Zero rolls his eyes at the 'love-dove' scene (that's what Nyuu calls it) and faces me, a small smile on his lips. I give him a challenging glare and move to remove my fist from my mouth, but he just pins it there. I roll my red-pink orbs and start turning, when I see the mark on Zero's neck. Why does it look so familiar…?

**Fist Chapter of my first crossover of my something some day on fan fiction of my (insert age here) of my life. This (insert cuss here) rocks!**


	2. Level 2

I stare at Yuka's bed, still F*CKING surprised that she brought three suitcases instead of one with a backpack, like me. I mean, you don't need much here. She smiles and her dorm mate, some chick named Christine, laughs, taking her hands and both hopping with unnecessary glee. "Oh it's going to be so much fun having a dorm mate!" Christine screams, Yuka laughing along.

I walk out without telling them. I mean come on! Jumping up and down like you just won the lottery over some dorm mate? What the He**! I mean even _I _don't get that excited over some 'friend'! Sure, I'm happy, but I don't do…just what the He**? I shake off a cold feeling shooting up my spinal cord and walk down the Sun Dorms: Girls' Dormitories to find my assigned one, my left backpack strap hanging over my right shoulder with my hand clutched firmly around it and my small, green suitcase rolling behind me silently. I mouth the rooms as I walk by: 34, and 35, and 36, and 37…ext. My horns sting under the cap, random strands of pink hair turning crimson. When are my horns going to regenerate? I wince and pick up my speed, hoping I wouldn't run into anyone. I find '56' eventually and slip in, finding two beds, both empty, and dust all over, just the door opening stinging my eyes with the stuff. As I blink to remove traces of dust from my eyeballs, I slip the strap off my arm and drop the backpack on the bed with a slight dunk. I heave the suitcase up on it and release my vectors, stretching both my regular muscles and the muscles in the vectors. I massage my spine with both thumbs and take a deep breath, the scent of aged wood and dust so welcoming. I stare at the windows, the red curtains billowing with an open window. I walk over to shut it, when I see Yuki walking by, whistling some happy tune. I roll my eyes slightly and shut it firmly, accidentally overdoing it and cracking the glass. I scratch the back of my neck, staring at the cracks, shrugging it off and walking over to my suitcase, pulling out some bottle of purple liquid. I stare at the note attached and peel it off, reading the sloppy handwriting of Kota.

_Lucy/Nyuu_

_I know you have bad fevers and the occasional stomach ache, so this should help with both. There should be instructions on the bottle, but if there isn't, just call and I'll tell you. If you ever run out, again, call and I'll pick some up for you (or agree to meet me somewhere in town). _

_Kota_

Ah, Kota, if only you were mine…I set the bottle on the stand next to the bed against the right wall when you enter and dump the pack contents onto the bed. A gun fires and I jump, not expecting a gun in my back pack. I stare at the gun and see 'Bloody Rose' on it. I stare at the other contents and face palm; this is NOT my bag. Sure I had the same trail mix, books, and do, do, dad, but I'm positive I didn't have a rose gun for vampires (I did my research after the attack. Thank you Google!), a picture of Zero and Yuki with 'We're going to High School! Let's celebrate!' scrawled all over the top above Zero's blank face and Yuki straining to look over his shoulder, since she only goes to about the mid of his chest after all, and I'm EXTREMELY SURE that I do not have a picture of that guy who helped me an hour ago with the puking in my mouth issue with a big 'X' in red and a whole bunch of other things on it that I shouldn't mention, but I wish I could. Trust me, it's F*CKING hilarious! Oh, this is definitely the joke of the year! Oh…that's good stuff. I release the laughter I had been straining to contain for the past four sentences and fall back, rolling into a ball onto the floor. Whoever's bag this belongs to definitely knows good torture. I sigh and wipe tears of pressured humor out of the brims of my red-pink orbs and release the ribs I had been holding tightly, standing and gathering the bags contents and dumping them back in the bag. I unzip the suitcase to check if I have the right one and sigh in relief; yep, this is mine. I leave it open and peer out the door, getting irritated with the cracks and forcing the window to open up so I can peer outside. Bag in one hand, I crawl out and shut the window behind me, not really thinking I should lock it. I jump down, my vectors pushing against the ground to ensure safety, and walk towards the trees.

"Lucy?" a familiar voice rings.

My heart freezes, my brain aches, and my muscles cramp. My eyes widen and my vectors push against the ground for extra support. The blood loss from the horns is maximizing, and it hurts. I wince and look up to Zero, holding a similar bag to the one I have. Oh, so this is Mr. Funny Torture? Huh, so he's not as dull as he seems. "What is it,-OUCH!"

I grip my head and I feel the horns slowly build up the bone, the marrow being the most painful part. You see, my regeneration is faster than that of humans, but the horns have been regenerating for over three months and it's under halfway. I wince and cringe, Zero bravely walking over and setting a cold, firm hand on my shoulder. The horns stop, then I take off the soggy cap. Blood drips on the grass and Zero wrinkles his nose in disgust. I clench the cap.

"Sorry," I mutter, offering him the bag, "I accidentally took your bag."

He blinks at it and swaps his for my own. I kneel down to shuffle through the bag's contents, my books, my pictures, and my trail mix all in there. I drag out a picture of Kota and Nyuu from last month at the fair, Yuka on the other side of me, Nana and Mayu sitting next to my crouching figure (or Nyuu) and Kota standing to her right. Cotton candy is clutched in 'my' hands, my face coated with rice grains and cotton candy itself. Nana was laughing, her hair drenched with soda and Mayu hugging her ribs, an empty soda cup in hand. That was a fun time, and I really just want to get this academy over with so I can relive it with myself, not my cheery split personality. I shove the picture away and stand, turning and walking for my dorm when Zero stops me by grabbing my left elbow. I glance at it and not considering it a major threat, turn to him.

"Don't touch me," I jerk out of his grasp.

He blinks. "Sorry."

I sigh. "Did you want something, Zero?"

He nods. He offers me a white piece of cloth in his hand and I stare at it, seeing a splotch of red and turning it over while it's still in his palm to see the same symbol as his sash. Right, I'm supposed to be in the Disciplinary Committee/Guardians. I sigh and take it, knowing I wasn't going to win this one. He walks away and I stare at the mark on his neck before he vanishes into the trees. That mark is just so familiar, I'm getting goose bumps. I trudge over to the side of the building and use my vectors to climb up, catapulting myself through the window and landing perfectly on the floor. I throw the bag onto the mattress and sit on the left bed, head in hands. That mark is just so familiar, it's bothering me massively. Maybe…Maybe if I just know how he got it. Maybe if I knew, I could tell what I'm missing, but that mark doesn't look like the Easter Bunny put it there. No, I think it was something far worse, something more dangerous than me and Nana combined. I shake my head from the thought. If such a thing existed, the world would probably be a dead wasteland by now. I sigh and stand, remembering all the snide comments I made at Zero earlier. Ugh, don't tell me I have to apologize! I'll just ask Yuka, she'll know what to do. I stand and lock the window tightly, walking out of the door and trudging down the halls once more, counting down this time and stopping in front of Yuka and Christine's door. I blink for a short amount of time before lifting up my hand to knock, only allowing someone to wrap thin fingers around the wrist. I turn to Yuka herself, Christine smiling behind her.

"Do you need something, Lucy?" Christine asks.

I turn to Yuka. "Can I talk to you alone? It's sort of…Yuck…" I shrug, symbolizing that it is a 'love dove' or 'mushy SH*T that friends share' type of thing.

She sighs and nods, Christine walking back into the room and Yuka following me to the middle of the steps before the rest of the way down. I lean against the rail and cross my arms, looking down and she smiles slightly. I guess she's happy to help a 'friend'. I sigh and Yuka raises a brow. "What happened?"

I point to my heart. "This is malfunctioning."

She rolls her eyes. "WOW! Lucy, if you like someone, just be out with it!"

I cringe. "Not exactly…I just feel like I need to…" I shudder, "apologize to…gulp…you-know-who."

"Vo-"

I growl. "NOT THAT YOU-KNOW-WHO!"

She giggles. "It's easy, just like a level three in a game of thirty levels!"

I sigh. "Yeah, but it feels like that level thirty."

She giggles even more (if possible) and takes my wrist, leading me down the rest of the stairs. "All you have to do is say a contraction, and a word, that's it!"

I shake my head. "No, it's not. I can't even _pronounce _the F*CKING witch chant."

She rolls her eyes at my stubbornness. "Do you have a _better _idea?"

I sigh, thinking. "Give me a school year to think about it."

She sighs, stopping in the middle of the hall. "Do I have to give you an apology manual or some SH*T like that?"

I smirk at her rare use of cussing. "No, I just don't want to apologize and show weakness. Out of all people, you should know that, _Kota's GF4EVER_."

She blinks. "H-How the Heck…where did you learn that?"

I smirk and shrug. "I saw you on the chat room yesterday, Yuka, so…"

She sighs. "Okay, so what if I like Kota? I'm human, he's human, and you…you're someone he'd like more."

I smile. At least she didn't say 'something' in place of 'someone'. "Think of this like…like a level two, your assignment being to HELP ME GET THIS FEELING O-U-T!"

She shakes her head and grins like I'm being silly (which I probably am). "Why don't we do the simplest thing possible? Ask for a friend of said victim of your terror!"

I laugh. "Gee, thanks for the confidence boost, Yuka."

We start down the hall, walking out and Yuka staring up at the sky. It's graying, which I don't EXTREMELY mind, but it just bothers me some for some odd reason. The back of my neck prickles and I sigh, staring at the path laid down in front of us to see a similar uniform to that of the boy who helped me, the only difference is a guy with tan skin and orange hair. A small dirty blonde is next to him, her pale skin conspicuous. This is when the song 'I'm a Superstar' pops into head and I clutch the sides of said head. MAN THAT SONG IS ANNOYING! 'I am a superstar, with a big, big house and a big, big car!' I mean how do you _live _through…Ugh…I shake my head and drop my arms, Yuka giggling. I guess she knew what torture popped into my head. The two stare in front of us stare at said friends and Yuka waves, nervously giggling. I guess she can also tell that they are two of the vamps that Cross mentioned.

"Hello!" she squeaks with nervousness. "I'm Yuka, a new student!"

I feel at my head to another soggy and bloody ruined cap. At least it's there. I sigh and take out another cap, yanking it over the ruined one. These are probably going to go faster than pained tears of a five-year-old…why the heck did I use that example? I shake my head once more and look around. Where the He** is that chick Yuki when you need her? I start to back up when my back hits a wall. Great, just d*m mother F*CKING great to bump into a wall with two vamps right in the path you need to go down. Yep, number 1 day of this F*CKING year, oh wait…MY HORNS BEING BLOWN OFF IS THE BEST! I grit my teeth and hear and _feel _a painful snap on my head. I blankly look up and dig under my cap, dragging out two one inch squared horn chunks in each hand. I blankly look up once more, the two vampires still staring. Yuka covers her mouth and then her ears, the other copying. I huff and scream at the top of my lungs, tears of pain mixing in with the blood leaking out the edges of the cap. THIS SUCKS! I mean come on! My horns were about halfway and now look! I JUST SNAPPED THEM OFF! F*CK IT! JUST D*M MOTHER F*CK IT! I buckle my knees and my calves slide onto the ground flat, my hands wrapped around the chunks. Yuka crawls over, despite I'm still screaming, and pats my back.

"Maybe we better get Yuki and fast," she suggests.

I bite my lip, the screaming remaining inside and causing my face to turn red. "'Mat 'mount 'be 'monopoly?"

She raises a brow. "Assuming I'm correct, no, we don't have apparent time for any apologies." She heaves me up, my lips still pressed together hard, the mumbles apparently barely audible. The two stand and stare at me, twitching at their most likely damaged ears. Yuka pushes my back. "Come on, now, Lucy, let's get you some bandages…"

"AND BONE GROWTH HORMONES!" I shriek, the pain unbearable.

She pats my back gently. "We'll call Kota for that, okay Lucy?"

I nod. Well, it can always be worse! Think of this like…level 2 (I wouldn't want to go to level 30, just saying). Level 3 is bound to be harder somehow, right?


	3. Level 3

I completely detest staying in my dorm like a caged up animal, but I guess Yuka has good intentions after she told the nurse about the horns and, well, the fact she couldn't stick some glue on and just wait for the bone to reattach, it just has to grow ALL OVER AGAIN. I clutch the cell phone Kota apparently stuffed inside my backpack without any means of telling me, either that or the thought slipped his mind and he just stuffed it in with intentions to tell me. Should I call about the horns? What about the vampires? Should I call _at all_? I sigh and flip open the phone, hesitating over the first number. It's not like I can ask anyone else if it's the right thing to do, since all of the Day Class is at class…or are they? I stand up to get into my uniform, the splattering of blood sounding. I glance at the ground next to my right foot to see blood itself; that of which streamed down my right arm while I was distracted with getting dressed. I sigh and pull the cap over my bleeding horns, not having enough energy to try to at least blot at the bleeding. It'll stop sometime, like it always does. I twist the knob of the door and walk out, shutting it firmly behind me. I pull the cap low and run through the halls, the only sounds my feet banging against the wood and my short rasps of air in between. I clutch the phone tightly, not really trusting myself to not loose it if I put it down.

As I run through the grass, the stones, and the occasional dirt, I skid to a halt and widen my red-pink eyes; it's that girl I tore my own horns off. Yuki is not far away, and I remind myself we didn't ever see her yesterday about the horns (I still feel the sting…) and the fact that the cause was that there were two F*CKING vampires right in front of Yuka and I. Trust me, it's not a nice sensation. I look up to a sunset. Oh yeah…I guess that nap was a bit longer than expected. I sigh and walk forward, the Disciplinary Committee slash rubbing against my left upper jacket sleeve and the left side of my jacket torso. Yuki tries to push a hoard of Day Class girls away from the Moon Dorms, the girl talking about something while trying to avoid some brunette with glasses calling 'Ruka! Ruka!' I walk over and peel the guy away by the neckline.

"Go back to the dorms," I mumble, shoving him back a ways.

He glares. "Who says?"

I turn to him, my face set to my own deadly glare. "Are you F*CKING deaf you D*CK? _I _said, now go!"

He yelps and runs off, the other girls growing silent. I turn my glare at them and they scream, ducking behind trees and bushes and branches when they bothered to climb. I sigh and turn to Yuki, who has one hand over her mouth. "Are you alright Lucy?" she asks.

I shrug. "Other than the fact I ripped out…you know…peachy."

She grins slightly. I guess she's happy I can keep some sense of humor within me. The girl 'Ruka' looks at me, an eyebrow up to the roots on the top of her forehead. "Speaking of which, where those…" she leans in to whisper, "_horns?_"

I sigh and nod. Sooner or later, the whole F*CKING school is going to know I'm a Diclonius. "It's very, very complicated."

Yuki raises a brow as well. "You can explain it in about ten seconds."

"Shut up please," I mutter her way, making Ruka smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not one for much curiosity," Ruka informs. "So, are you feeling better after…that?"

I shrug. "It stings a bit, but bone snapping doesn't sting for a while?"

Ruka nods. "That is very true. So, I trust that the Disciplinary Committee has a trustworthy new helper."

I shrug. "I'm known for a temper as a friend of mine put it a few days ago."

Yuki giggles, remembering Nana. I swear she's going to pay by leeches (Nana of course; Yuki isn't that big of an as* [the giggling says otherwise]). I look around to not see any trace of Zero, whom of which I have yet to talk to. "Don't expect to see Zero," Yuki sighs. "He slacks a lot."

I grit my teeth. "Not on my watch…see you later Ruka, Yuki," I walk off, waving behind my head.

The walking turns into running, and the screams of the girls attacking for the gate ring. Ugh, am I supposed to deal with this every day? I shake my head and the cap loosens, making me pull it down far. I push myself to the Sun Boys' Dormitories, panting and shoving hard through the door. I run up some steps, remembering specifically Zero's room (I'm that desperate to get this F*CKING apology over with). I skid to a stop a few doors down and trip over a loose board, tearing it out of the ground and falling hard on my side, sliding down into the wall next to Zero's room in which causing a loud thud. I mutter a curse and the door swings open, slamming me in the face as it goes out. I grumble, trying to pull out my vectors to drag myself out, but I remember they can't come out in via state of pain. Man this apology thing is harder than I thought. The door moves to close again, but I seize the handle with both hands and dig my heels between some boards, eye twitching as my nose bleeds.

"H-hey!" I grit my teeth. "There's a girl behind the F*CKING door!"

The struggle on the other side ceases, and Zero walks out, staring down at my bleeding figure. He raises a brow. "Lucy?"

"Well, no F*CKING duh, Zero," I spit, releasing the knob and falling on my as*, pushing myself up with a bit of wobble. Too much blood is coming out of my body.

He grips my elbow and starts to lead me in. "You look awful," he grins slightly.

"Well, I'd say the same for you but I don't want to be accused of seeing the future now do I?" I grumble, allowing him to seat me on his bed.

He rolls his eyes and walks over to a mirror, drawing some bandages out of a bag. He walks over and tugs my cap off, dapping the bone with a cloth and allowing myself to snap my nose back in place (shows how P*SSED he can be if you awake the 'big bad wolf' from his dear 'beauty sleep'). I clutch the phone tightly and stare down at the cool crimson metal, wondering if I should call Kota about those Bone growth hormones Yuka promised yesterday. Zero's hands leave my head and walk off to a closet, dragging out some cap and placing it low on my head. He presses a cloth lightly to my nose to try and decrease or blot the bleeding there by slight proportions. I pat the cap once to make sure if the bleeding stopped and, guess what, it did. It feels dry and soft, which makes me guess the softness is the cap. For a while, during Zero's futile attempts to tame my nose bleed, we don't talk. I just blankly stare forward as he goes at it, carefully lacing his hands where there were no sore spots. That's when curiosity bests me.

"Hey, Zero?" I mutter. He grunts in acknowledgment in my addressing. "Where did you get that mark on your neck?"

His hands freeze on my cheekbones, his face out of line in my vision staring down at the ground. He doesn't reply, and I doubt he ever will. I sigh. Gee, trying got me NOWHERE. I guess I won't really get to know why it's just so d*m…familiar. I glance down at my hands and squint. Is there…is there a _doll ribbon _there in my palm? I blink twice and the ribbon vanishes. That's odd…I clutch the phone tighter. I feel a cold sensation run down my back and gasp. No! I quickly stand and push Zero away, my vectors striking where he once was. I shut my eyes and hold my head. Something is wrong. That ribbon…that ribbon…

"_Is pretty ribbon gone?" _Nyuu, that annoying second personality I've been talking about, asks from the back on my head.

I grit my teeth. _"Yes, the ribbon is gone!"_

"_Where'd it go?"_

"_HOW SHOULD I KNOW?"_

"_You had it."_

I grunt. Can you reason with her? _"Yeah, yeah, do me some use and stay back there so I don't have to explain a whole bunch of CR*P when this is over."_

"_But you have to explain the rough play," _she squeaks innocently. Yeah, she has the mind of a mere child.

I struggle to get my eyes open and a gunshot rings in my ears, my shoulder in sudden pain and my shriek deafening myself alone. All I hear is the fading ring of that single gunshot. The vectors fade so far as the gray I can see through. Mumbling, that's it. I can't understand anything. I can't see much, and I can't move. What's going on? I only got shot in the shoulder! I wince as something jerks my right arm socket down. I try to push that something off, but someone grabs my now gray wrist (what isn't gray now?). More mumbling surrounds my head, then what is meant for yelling, but really in my ears is hissing.

"Zero what're you doing to Lucy?" Yuki gasps.

"Lucy? Are you alright?" I hear Yuka ask.

I wince. I keep my teeth in their grit, not wanting to speak the curses I shouldn't be hearing, and I'm nineteen. Honestly, I'm taking the last year of high school like Yuka just to get some help with college that I don't really have to be in. Yuka is also my age, same reason. It's not like I had much of education in that whack house people call a facility. I shut my eyes, scrunching them together tightly. This is not at all comfortable, and I think my eardrums just popped. Someone shakes my left shoulder, the one that's good, and I open one eye to see the headmaster.

"What happened?" he mouths (talks I know, but my ears are NOT FUNCTIONING PEOPLE!).

I wince at the shoulder. "I don't know…my vectors…they just…" my mind goes into its own drive, and leaves me to pass out. The bad news is that Nyuu is still at the back of my head with me. Man, if I learned anything, apologizing is HARDER than a level 3 out of 30, maybe a 5 or a 4. I stare at the blackness that surrounds me. This is where my childhood is, and only occasional flickers appear. This is what you get when you can't remember anything before you were eleven.


	4. Level 4

I open my eyes weakly to bright sun, a crowded bed, and a serious lack of oxygen. I blink and all I can see is gray, like before I passed out. Man why can't a Diclonius have a normal life? _Because you're a species that needs to be exterminated, _Kurama's voice rings in my head. 'Species'…I'm a living being! Not…not some F*CKING piece of CR*P in the middle of the ocean! I shake my head and jerk my left arm, bringing a crash with it. I scream. That's right! I'm not something people can just push around! I'm not a monster…right? I'm…I'm not one of the monsters…I'm not Mariko…I'm me. Somebody tries to pin my arm down and my vectors react not so nicely. I scream as I try to fight them back in, although nobody knows that's what I'm doing. Something injects into my neck and my screams catch in my throat. My eyes grow wide and somebody lays a blanket up higher on my body, hiding my fists with balls of sheets inside the palms. A gentle, cool hand rests on top the right, my eyes scrunching together.

"Easy," a smooth voice belonging to the one who helped me with the queasiness settles. "You just had a bit of a rush. Just settle down."

I take several deep breaths, clearing my vision considerably, but when my irises slide to the end, I see a girl in the window. I widen my eyes and grip the sheets tighter. She has a crimson hood-jacket with medium white hair, her skin paler than snow. Her eyes are crimson, and I mean actual blood crimson. She glances inside and sighs once she locks eyes with me, sadness deep inside the pupils. This isn't good. I widen my eyes. Something is definitely _wrong _about her. She…she…she has something coming out of her back, but it's…_three clawed vectors, thirty of them, clawing to her outline. I know there are still more of the arms to come out, _and that's what is wrong. I scream; something about her too familiar that it makes my head pound. My neck jerks to one side, the needle apparently still there and ripping through my flesh and muscle. I scream louder and the hand grips my own tighter.

"Easy, there's nothing to be scared of," he lies.

I scream, something going through me. _She's interesting…_a childish voice smiles.

_No, you know her orders, _one close to my own snaps.

_Come on! This is the Queen of Diclonius! Do you know what would happen if we get her blood? _This time it was a maniacal, playing teen, maybe thirteen.

_I'm telling you, twenty, if you lay anything on her…_

_Oh, I won't! But you have to think about fifteen…_

Who the He** is Fifteen? WHO? All the stress makes my back go into an arch, two arms pinning my own down. Someone tries to eject another needle of something into the other side of my neck, but my vectors swat he/she back. This is too confusing, and I need _oxygen _to sort it out. My vectors don't kill, they just swat away. The one who helped me seems to be unaffected since he's still pinning my arms down. I open my eyes to the extent and stare at the light lime ceiling. Something's up there…a doll's ribbon. One of my vectors plucks it out and drops it onto my face or at it when it disappears with a single blink. Something comes in contact with my neck, sharp and painful. I shut my eyes.

"_Can I get out now?" _Nyuu begs. _"Please, please, please!"_

"_ALRIGHT ALREADY YOU CAN GET OUT!" _I snap. _"Just listen to me on what to do, okay?"_

She nods and I drift past her. I observe her being, but she's me, so I'm going to say 'I' did so and so, okay? _Okay! _So, I open my eyes once more, confused, yet remaining calm. I feel at the substance in my neck, only to feel a person's lips. I hear a simple grunt and the person detaches, revealing Zero, his lips and chin dripping with blood…_my _blood. I squeak (remember I'm Nyuu people at the moment) and fling the sheets over my head, trembling slightly. Someone pokes the blanket and I peek out of an edge to see Yuka. I leap up.

"Yuka," I cry, wrapping my arms around her neck, "scary people!"

She pats my head. "It's alright, _(whispering: I think the stress made her change to her split personality)._"

"Her spilt personality is a kid?" Zero mutters in disbelief.

"Hey, it's your fault she's here in the first G*D D*M PLACE!" Ruka defends.

Jeez she's a curser. This startles me and I leap off the bed, ducking behind Yuka trembling. That's when Nyuu spots none other than Yuki. "Nyuu?"

"What did she say?" the one who helped me asks.

"Oh…that…she said Nyuu…" Yuka sighs. "All that medication and stress must have made her personality switch."

_No duh, _I mutter inside.

"Wait, what does that have to do with her saying 'Nyuu'?" Ruka blinks at Yuka for a short minute.

Yuki smiles and starts to walk over. "Hello, I'm Yuki!"

I blink. "Yuri?"

Yuki smiles warmly. "Close enough."

'I' smile and clap my hands as if I just ran a marathon. "Nyuu!"

Yuki grins. "Huh, I wonder if we'll see Lucy again, she's a bit more understandable through the muttering."

I grin inside. There's just something about her that makes all stress go away, but I can't put my finger on it. I sigh and cross my arm, sitting against the black mass I'm forced to call the back wall of my head. 'I' frown and look down, shifting my feet. I can't hear what she's thinking, so I don't know what she's going to do! She sits on the ground and bonks her head once lightly. "Wake up."

I raise a brow. _"I thought you wanted to get out in the first place?"_

She bonks her head again, slightly harder. "Wake up."

"What is she doing?" Ruka asks Yuka.

"How should I know? I don't read minds!" Yuka sighs, sitting on the edge of the bed.

As everyone stares at me, Nyuu fails to notice. She bonks it again, even harder. "Wake up."

"_Why do you want me to get out?" _I demand.

"He sad," she pouts.

"_What?"_

"He sad so wake up," she bonks her head harder.

"_Who's sad?"_

"He," she replies with a face that reads 'what's that?' but not honestly confused. More like that blank-confused face you get when someone screams something random.

"_WHO'S HE?"_

"Wake up."

"_UGH!"_

I stand and cross my arms. She sighs and crosses her arms, now in the pouting stage. "I don't do your chores."

"_Huh?"_

"I don' do what you need to do!" this time I can tell she's offended I'm not getting her little 'life lesson'.

What I need to do? I blink. _"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you what it is you're-"_

She starts balling her eyes out. Zero walks forward and rubs her back gently. Why does he look sympathetic almost? Nyuu turns her crying eyes at him. "Lucy sorry! Lucy sorry!" I blink. She's saying the _apology_? Nyuu keeps balling. It's just like when Kota was upset about his sister…Nyuu wanted him to forget that sadness. She can always tell…I can't. "Lucy sorry for mean things! Lucy sorry!"

Yuka smiles a bit and everyone just stares at her like she's a mad-woman. I just stare at Zero's face, trying to read the emotions like Nyuu can. _"Nyuu, that's nice of you, but I doubt he wants to hear it from you…" _I sigh.

She keeps balling. "Lucy sorry! Lucy so sorry!"

I feel a sharp ping at where the Grinch's heart should be. I sigh. My heart is not supposed to be like this! Yet again, I'm not as cold as the F*CKING Grinch, you know (well, I guess colder with the murder streak, but I DON'T KNOW!)? Nyuu keeps balling, and she stops when Zero takes her in, patting her back lightly.

"Lucy, if you're there," he whispers. "_I'm _the sorry one."

I have my fair bets he's the one who shot me. I wouldn't blame him. I guess he's a vampire, since he bit me. I guess he bit me to help, since I was in a lot of pain and confusion. I guess…I guess apologies aren't so hard if you ball a lot. I sigh. _"Nyuu, it's my turn to walk on our home."_

She parts and bonks her head. "Wake up."

"_Ask Zero to hit you or something," _I suggest.

"Zero, Lucy wants to come out. Can you hit me with something?" Nyuu asks. Well, I didn't think she'd actually ask it!

The one who helped me smirks, Yuki and Yuka letting out 'aw!' in unison. Ruka rolls her eyes and smiles. Even I have to admit, it's cute. Zero sighs and grabs a lunch tray after setting the contents on the stand it was once on. "Wait, you're actually going to _hit a girl_?" Yuka and Yuki gap in unison.

Zero shrugs. "That's what she wants."

"_NO! THAT'S WHAT NYUU-you know what, never mind!" _I groan.

"You don't want to get out?" Nyuu asks.

"_No, I just didn't think you'd actually ASK HIM TO HIT YOU!"_

"But you said-"

"_Nyuu I'll let this slip but the next time this happens DO NOT TAKE MY SUGGESTIONS SO LITTERALLY!"_

She blinks and suddenly the tray comes hard on the right temple. Nyuu drops to the floor, unconscious, and we swap. She waves good bye as she goes to reside in the back of my mind, where she fills it with colorful dreams that I have to endure. I have to admit, it's nice to be with a child like Nyuu (even though she's my age) (she acts like a…kid, I can't describe it much). I come up to the surface, the pains in my neck gone and apparently healed by the bite. I scrunch my eyes and force them open, the place in color and everyone audible. I blink as I'm still on the floor and push so the hip and lower are the only things on the ground, besides the right palm. I rake my left fingers through the pink hair and rub a sore spot in between the horns, figuring out the cap was off. I blink and look back at Zero, who's now carrying a bent tray. Ouch.

"You seriously hit me so hard you bent that tray?" I gap. He nods. "Where you aiming for three days of unconscious Lucy/Nyuu or something, or where you just over-exaggerating the hit a…_bit_?"

He rolls his eyes and sets the tray on the stand next to some gray mush. Almost as good as the CR*P they fed us in the 'facility'. I fight to get on the bed, Ruka and Zero coming to support me. I rest my head on the pillow and feel my horns tingle as the bone grows, but I don't feel any immense pain. I raise a brow and stare at the faces looking down upon me. "Hey, how much drugs did you guys put me on?"

The one who helped me (I forgot the name alright?) grins kindly. "Maybe two of twenty different kinds of drugs were fed to you, why do you ask?"

I sigh. "If one of them was Crack, Pot, Marijuana, or poison, or all of the above or A-b or whatever, one of you is dying."

Ruka rolls her eyes. "I guess you're referring to the numbness?"

"Actually, yeah," I blink. "Can someone PLEASE explain that?"

"Well, Zero explained about what fully happened in the dorm, so we thought you'd want to not suffer through the soreness," Yuki shrugs. "Plus we never use it."

"Gee, thanks," I mutter, Yuka patting the area between my horns.

"Oh don't be so grumpy, Lucy!" she smiles. "At least you're alive!"

I glance over at the window. Who was that? "Hey, can one of you do me a favor and check if anyone's outside the window?" I ask.

Ruka volunteers and walks out the door, running practically. Zero sits on the edge of the bed next to my left knee, his hand resting on said body part. Yuki introduces the guy who helped me as Kaname Kuran, a dorm president in the Moon Dorms. I ask about why Zero was in the Day Class, and Yuki gives me such a thorough explanation, I start to drift off. Zero pats my knee awake and I blink up at the ceiling. Ruka comes back, one brow raised.

"Nobody's outside," she blinks. "Are you alright Lucy?"

I shrug. "Must be the medication," _or I'm too late._


	5. Challenge Level! Level 5

**Challenge Level!**

I'm going to get Zero, I swear it! It's been a little over a week since I came out of my three day visit to the infirmary and guess what? HE PUSHED ME INTO THE FOUNTAIN! The worse part is that it was 3:10A.M today! I kick a trash can hard and gruff. It is noon now, and not enough time for some well-deserved pay-back. I sigh and walk over to the window, opening it and leaning out to see Yuki, wandering in and out of the trees to make sure of something. I hop onto the window pane and onto the roof, gently using my vectors to steady myself on the roof. I cartwheel off the edge and land in front of said friend, blank in the face. She smiles and waves.

"Hello Lucy!" she cheers. "Are you feeling better?"

I grunt. "I wish. Hey, do you know what annoys Zero the most?"

She sighs and gently smiles. "Oh come on is this necessary?"

I nod. "Absolutely, 100% necessary revenge scheme right here, right now; I want the top thirty ways to annoy him!"

She rolls her eyes and digs into her bag, drawing out a list of thirty. I scroll down the list.

_Not in order. Ways to annoy Z. Kiryu_

_ his Bloody Rose_

_ him depression medication_

_ his life in an annoying voice: preferably baby-voice_

_ him everywhere_

5.…_Talk endlessly as well_

_ away screaming like a girl once he snaps_

7.…_Turn back after a yard and yell that you're just mimicking him_

_ Holy Water on him_

_ Garlic on him (better if rotten)_

_ him to read or listen to Dracula_

_ if he'd be interested in your blood since Yuki is with someone else._

I stare up at Yuki. "Did you write this out of bitterness?"

"If you don't like it, give it back," she teases.

"I'm not done," I excuse, looking back down.

_ him randomly_

_ singing Sexy Back and claim that's his theme song _(I laugh so hard at this one).

_ pictures at random and say weird things like 'that's my new wallpaper'_

_ on his back and don't let go_

_ Classmates come into view, kiss him oddly and walk off placidly: make sure you have plastic over your lips_

_ at him with a wooden stake and when he dodges, run into a tree and do #12_

_ if he likes anyone, when he tells you, tell that person Zero is a stalker and wants to rape him/her_

_ Zero to have his babies; once he walks off, cling to his ankles and beg _

_ why his name's Zero like 'Zero the Spanish fighter guy_

_ him to go with you to the blood bank_

_ him to help you donate blood_

_ around in circles around him_

_ his dorm 'accidentally'_

_ him to smile_

_ his foot and say there was a bug_

_ his shoes and polish his clothes_

_ of the above in one day: best in five hours_

This is when I _really _stare at Yuki. "Where did you get…_this_?"

She smiles. "Four years of him living with Headmaster and me," she answers, tilting her head innocently.

I smile maniacally. "Thank you so much, Yuki. I promise I won't let him know these came from you!"

I run off, smiling. I pause. I can't do it now, especially when tomorrow's Saturday and the weekend, when there's PLENTY of time to do via list! I smile. He will NEVER forget this.

:)

I scratch my back as I wake up 3:21A.M. I hop up and rub any traces of sleep in my eyes, stretching and walking over to my closet to find my regular clothes, like Yuki said to wear. I pull them on and twist the cap on securely, my pink short locks covering my laughing eyes. Oh, Zero will NOT forget today. I smile victoriously and run out, counting down the numbers and skid at Yuka's number. I rap on the door and Christine answers, rubbing her eyes. I guess she'll do.

"Hey, can you help me with something?" I whisper.

She shrugs. "Can I get dressed first?"

"I just need garlic and fake Holy Water," I inform.

She stares at me. "_Why _do you need _that_?"

"A rumor I started yesterday," I lie, reminding myself that not everyone knows about vampires. "Zero pushed me in the fountain, like, three in the morning yesterday, so I'm getting some revenge!"

She smiles. "Cool, be back in a sec okay?" She shuts the door lightly and after a minute, comes back with a bottle painted with a silver cross, the cork also in the shape of a silver cross. In the other hand, there's a bag full of garlic, which she steps out and smiles. "Anything else needed for your revenge Lucy?"

I nod and take out the list, staring at Yuki's scribbled writing. "A hammer to destroy his dorm, shoe polish, fifty cents for the washing machine, depression medication, a timer, the Dracula book," I notice Yuka sitting up and smiling, gathering items close to her and standing, already in her uniform (never thought she'd sleep in a school uniform), "a wooden stake, Yuka: I need my camera as well, plastic lip covering, and…that's it."

Yuka sighs and smirks. She pulls out a spare backpack and Christine and Yuka dump in my 'Revenge Surprise' ingredients. I scratch the top of my cap and yawn, being the time it is. Trust me I'm going to make him _suffer_. Am I overreacting? No, since he pushed me in _horns first_. After several minutes, Yuka tosses the backpack to me and I smile, Yuka and Christine following me out with binoculars. I know they're going to work as look outs, so I'm happy. I stop in front of Yuki's door and rap on it, the door creaking slowly and revealing a secretive Yuki.

"Are you ready?" she whispers.

I nod and she slips out, a pink cardigan with a navy skirt down to her mid-thighs, black shoes, and knee high white socks on. We all sneak out and I follow Yuki and Christine to outside the boys' dorms, Yuka staring as the two climb up. Yuka glances at me and pats my shoulder, also climbing up. I nod and run inside, counting the numbers as I head closer to Zero's dorm. I skid to a stop in front of his door and slip in, a wide smirk on my face. I spot his sleeping figure, the blanket pulled over his head. I open my mouth, but shut it rapidly. What about the other students? I sigh and walk to the window, Yuki outstretching her hands with bags of earmuffs. Now that I think about it carefully, that would explain why Yuka was dressed earlier. I shrug and walk over to Zero, poking his shoulder. He grunts in his sleep and I smile; this is SO going to be worth the look on his face. I slip his Bloody Rose into my bag, reaching for the hammer and breaking a few things to REALLY peeve him off. I decide to leave the pictures alone, since I'm not _that _cruel. I just break the mirror, the handle on the stand's top drawer, cracked the headboard, and that little strip of wall between the door and said mirror. I lean close to his ear, glancing at Yuki to see her nod. I scream at the top of my lungs. Zero jerks up and falls off the bed, thrashing to get the blanket off of him. I take out my list during the hustle and a pencil.

At #1:

_/Steal his Bloody Rose_

At #24:

_/Scream_

At #26:

_/Destroy his dorm 'accidentally'_

I shove the list away and take out the bottle and bag. He pops his head out and I dup the contents of the bag on his head, rotten garlic falling out. He stares at the ones that lay upon the floor and I uncap the bottle once the bag's empty, pouring it on his head. He sputters and I pull the list back in front of my face.

At #8:

_/Pour Holy Water on him_

At #9:

_/Dump Garlic on him (better if rotten)_

I fold the list in fourths and keep it in my right palm, shoving the bottle and the sack back in the bag. He stares up at me, his arms outstretched in that confused way. "WHAT THE HE** WAS THAT FOR?"

I hand him a bottle. He blinks and takes it, staring at the label. His expression switches from curious to extremely annoyed, so I smirk. I unfold the list.

At #2:

_/Give him depression medication_

I fold it again and he stands, sighing and staring at his soaked sleeping shirt. I smirk. This is another _perfect _opportunity. "Where are my manners at?" I smirk. "Hey, why don't you take a shower to get that…garlic,"-I stifle a laugh-"stench out and I'll get you're clothes cleaned up?"

He blinks and shrugs. I follow him to the showers and I cover my eyes while he gets in, leaving the clothes with me and (bonus) the shoes. I gather them up and walk out, heading for the washing room. Yuka and Christine are there. They giggle as I dump the shoes into the washing machine and I hand them each a bottle of shoe polish, laying the clothes out flat. I give myself a bottle, not bothering to ask where Yuki obviously went; to watch when Zero comes out. When the washing machine thumps, I set down my shoe polish and take the shoes out; bit disappointed they didn't shrink (that would've been a huge bonus). I shake the water off slightly and drop them on the laid out towel. As Yuka finishes up, Yuki runs in, panting.

"Hurry, he's nearing done as we speak!" she cries, hair balled up in her fists.

I hold up the 'polished' clothes and her frown disappears, replaced with a laughing smile. I fold them up, the polish drying, and Yuka gathers up the rest, Christine grabbing the garlic bag and dumping it, reclaiming the hammer and bottle, and removing any hints of shoe polish in there, also snatching fifty cents from my bag as payment for the fifty I 'borrowed' from her. Honestly, the bag is lighter now (must be the hammer). I walk out and start running back. All of this is so fun, it's fast! I skid to a sudden stop and they dump the clothes and shoes into my arms, running down the hall to hide. I smirk and knock on the door with my heel. Zero opens the door, his mark showing. I swear that's just…ugh. I blink the thought out and offer him his clothes, Nyuu laughing in the inside. He nods and shuts to door, only to open it a few seconds later.

"What exactly did you wash these with?" he asks.

I shrug. "Why?"

He holds up a shirt, which is now super stiff. I stifle a laugh. "I used the only stuff there."

He sighs and shuts the door again, allowing me to slide out the list.

At #29:

_/Wash his shoes and polish his clothes_

I re-fold the list (this is going to happen all day isn't it?). Zero comes out, struggling with bending his arms and legs. I chuckle and follow him down the hall, deciding to leave that narrate everything to not in a long stream. We walk out and I clear my throat, taking out some old ad for donating blood I got before Yuka and I left for here. I still don't get it much, but hey, it works.

"So," I clear my throat, "Zero you are how old this year?"

"Nineteen," he mutters.

"Huh, that's weird because I'm nineteen," I blink. It's honestly a surprise, but I'd usually keep it to myself if not in the middle of a revenge scheme. "Well, do you know why your parents named you Zero?"

He stops and turns to me and shrugs after hesitating. "Why do you ask?"

"Because of that Legend of 'Zero film and you don't look Spanish honestly," I shrug. "Hey, you ever like someone?"

This is when he raises a brow. "Why do you ask?"

"Just answer and I'll tell you who _I _like, okay?" I offer.

He sighs. "Just answer my question and _maybe _I'll answer yours."

Is he stubborn or what? "It came up two days ago when I was calling someone, okay?"

He blinks and sighs, knowing I wasn't going to cave in easily. "Do I have to?" I nod and he leans, whispering, "Yuki Cross alright?"

I smile. That's going to be funny. "I like some guy named Kota. He doesn't go here, but I lived with him for…a while now actually."

He raises a brow. "You live with him?"

"Hey, you live with Yuki don't you?" I snap. He shuts up. I hold up the ad. "Hey, earlier, I was thinking about this, but usually I get a bit startled when I bleed, like you have so seen. I have nightmares about it at times, so I was wondering if you'd like to come with me and help me donate blood."

His eyebrows furrow; yes! "No thank you."

"Oh come on! Please! What if there was a dying little boy, begging for the extra blood he needs that turns out to be my type and they don't have enough to save him JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T COME AND HELP ME?"

"Ask Yuki!" he snarls.

"She's busy!" I counter.

"How do you know?"

"I asked her earlier!"

He huffs. He walks a bit ahead and I rapidly unfold the list again.

At #4:

_/Follow him everywhere_

At #5:

_/…Talk endlessly as well_

At #21:

_/Ask why his name's Zero like 'Zero, the Spanish fighting guy_

At #22:

_/Ask him to go with you to the blood bank_

At #23:

_/Ask him to help you donate blood_

I stuff the pencil behind my ear and clutch the paper, catching up with him and running in circles, making him stop while I continued. I need to set the record. He sighs and tries to trip me, but I'm _behind _him (hint, hint). I stop and he sighs in relief, walking forward. Suddenly, I spring onto his back, clinging on and his eyes widen, trying to pull me off.

"HEY! LUCY GET OFF ME!" he roars.

I refuse. I see Yuki in the trees, laughing behind her hand. This looks _so _wrong! Yuka shakes her head, grinning. Christine wipes the tears of enjoyment out, her ribs looking as if they're in pain. I cling on harder and put the list on his back.

At #25:

_/Run in circles around him_

At #16:

_/Hop on his back and don't let go_

Suddenly, my body flies off and I slam into the ground, a rock stabbing my palm hard as I land on my stomach, face landing on my right cheek and my legs curled at the knees slightly. I have one arm (the left) bent at the elbow in front of my face and the other reaching higher and also bent at the elbow. I taste something in my mouth; blood, nice. I curl up into a ball and drag the list in front of my face.

At #12:

_/Bleed_

I fold it and stand, seeing Zero glaring at me. I 'squeak' as best as I can, which really is not a squeak at all, and run for about a yard before turning. Yuki hugs her ribs laughing silently. "I'M ONLY IMMITATING YOU, JERK!"

His face grows red. "What was that?" he demands. "Was that 'please kill me mercilessly Zero?'"

I take the list.

At #6:

_/Run away screaming like a girl once he snaps_

At #7:

_/…Turn back after about a yard and yell that you're just mimicking him_

I fold it and stick the pencil back behind my ear, facing him. I see a student walking by and walk up to him. The student nears, and I bite my lip to make sure the plastic is on. Yuki smiles and laughs when I kiss him EXTREMELY ODDLY and the student runs by, staring at me like I'm a maniac (which I am). I pry my 'lips' from his and he just stands there, blinking, and I walk off placidly, taking out the list and pushing the plastic off.

At #17:

_/When a student comes into view, kiss him oddly and walk off placidly: make sure you have plastic over your lips_

Yeah, I guess I'm just this desperate for revenge, I'm actually following this. I sigh and pick out my phone, dialing Kota's number. I bring it up to my ear and listen to the two rings before he picks up.

"Hello?" he asks.

"Hi Kota," I sigh.

"Lucy?" he asks. "Is something wrong?"

I wince as I feel my horns prickle. "Yeah, can you send more blood clot medication? I think it wears off faster than I burn calories."

He chuckles on the other end. "Sure thing, Lucy, but can you answer me something?"

"Sure, anything," I shrug.

"Why do you sound like you're scared for life?"

I blush. "Yeah…I'm having a little revenge scheme which requires some VERY weird things…so…"

He laughs. "Okay, just don't do anything over the top."

"Like what?"

"Like getting pregnant," he jokes. "But don't ruin their lives, Lucy, nobody deserves that."

I sigh and nod, even though he can't see me nod. "I'll be sure to do that Kota."

I snap the phone shut and sigh, walking to the side of the road, and skimming through the list. Should I charge at him with a stake, or do that and stomp on his foot saying it was a bug? I see him walking this way and decide quickly. I take out the stake, shutting my eyes and letting my vectors move me for this one. It's just WAY TOO embarrassing. I feel myself slamming into a tree and the wood pricking multiple spots of my skin, a particularly deep cut making me drop the stake. Is this even worth it? Yes, apparently to my screwed up mind it is. I open my eyes to peel off the tree, my back landing first thankfully. Nyuu would just apologize for all of this. I sigh and look up, seeing Yuki in a nearby tree. I sigh and stand, turning to Zero staring at me.

"Are you okay, Lucy-OUCH?" he exclaims as I stomp on his foot.

"Sorry, there was a bug," I shrug.

He sighs and stares at me, placing the back of his hand on my forehead. "You don't _feel _warm…"

I blink. I honestly have had enough fevers in my…years from eleven to now. I take my list, not wanting to remember.

At #18:

_/Charge at him with a wooden stake and when he dodges, run into a tree and do #12_

At #28:

_/Stomp on his foot and say there was a bug_

I sigh and fold the list, hugging him around the neck. I don't mean this as the revenge scheme mostly, it's just something…_she_…would have done. I pry off and stare at my feet. Should I continue? Should I really make this guy miserable just because he pushed me into a fountain? I sigh and take it out, leaning against a tree. I'm not sure if I want to do this anymore. I sigh and run off, heading for my dorm. I don't want to make him miserable anymore…_anymore… "Hey freak!"_

:'(

"_Hey you I'm talking to you!" he screamed at me. I didn't reply, I just stared at my milk-stained bag. "What happened to your bag? Somebody poured milk on it and it smells really gross."_

"_He asked you a question," the second snapped, "you freak!"_

_He pushed me and the first tripped me, making me let out a small yelp and crash to the ground, their laughter ringing in the room. _

"_You know, I heard that they found you all alone in a field. I bet your parents abandoned you because you had those freaky horns sticking out of your head!" _

**A flash of memory, one that hurts my head, shows. It's a younger me I guess, falling back with blood spurting out of my left temple in the middle of a grassy field. "SISTER!" someone screams and then the memory fades into black.**

_He grabbed an umbrella and wrapped the handle around my ankle as I fought to get up. "OOPS!"_

:'(

I stop breathing, grabbing my head. Payback, I can't even remember the meaning of the word anymore! I sit up on my bed. It's been six hours since I saw Zero, deciding I didn't want to torture him anymore. It was funny at first, embarrassing myself, of course Yuki was laughing at his expression along with Yuka and Christine; they're too nice to laugh at me. I feel tears stream. I feel like Nyuu now, but I guess that's a good thing. This just get's harder and harder, and I hate it. This is just like the orphanage, except I haven't killed anyone yet…


	6. Level 6

I knock on his door silently. No answer. I knock again. No answer. I knock harshly. No answer. I don't blame him much, but it hurts. It's like when that woman said my horns were 'gross' in the orphanage. I mean, I have feelings! I'm not stone! Or am I? I sigh and start to walk away when the moonlight shines over a dark figure. It's Zero in his uniform. I glance at my watch. CR*P I'm supposed to be on patrol today! I run out. If he catches me, then it's going to lead to some mushy-gooey love fest of apologies or something! I run as fast as I can and when someone grabs my wrist, I shoot out my vectors, but something holds them back. I glare back and gasp; a long piece of white doll ribbon. My vectors disappear and the ribbon drops, but I doubt my captor can see it. I turn to said captor to see Yuki, looking almost…sympathetic…through her friendly smile.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asks. "You disappeared on us."

I sigh. How am I going to explain this? "Look, can I go to my dorm and get dressed for patrol?"

She glances down and back up. She flicks my forehead and I spread my arms in that 'what the He**' way. She giggles. "You're already dressed, Lucy. I'm making sure you're _awake_."

I glance down and she's right. Wow, I'm used to being home and being in some night clothes all day when I'm…me…since I usually slept all day after chores and dinner, or remained in the house with Kota, Yuka, Nana, Mayu, and Wonta, the small puppy that keeps Mayu company. Ah, I miss those days. I nod and she rests a hand on my shoulder. "What?" I ask.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" she sighs.

I blink and jerk my shoulder away. "Maybe tomorrow, but we have a duty to do first."

She nods.

^.^ O_o

Mixed emotions, that's it. I'm not sure if this is getting harder each day or what, but in a game of thirty levels, depending on the game, they're all the same, right? I mean, if it's online and you're upgrading a character, it's just experience or things you've done, right? If I apologize ten times, I'm already mastered to tell you the truth. I sigh and tap my fingers. It's Friday, both classes. I walk around the room and Yuki comes in, seeing me in my uniform, pacing, and in my thinking phase (you can tell). She sighs and Yuka follows, both smiling lightly. I stop and stare.

"What?" I raise a brow.

Yuka shuts the door. It's creepy how both have brown hair and eyes, pale skin, and are the same F*CKING height, you know? It's like they're sisters, except one gets jealous easy. "What's wrong?" Yuka sighs.

I blink. Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell Yuki that. Well, Yuka's another living soul I can come to, so I sigh and sit on the bed. "I want to apologize to Zero, but I can't."

"Hit your head," Yuki suggests.

I smirk. "Not a bad idea, but no thank you," I chuckle. "Yuka, do you have any less painful suggestions?"

She thinks about it and snaps her fingers. "You could try chat room!"

Yuki laughs. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because you were trying to be silly," I point out.

She rolls her eyes amused and opens the door. "I have an account, so I have a computer."

"What about a monitor?" I ask.

She rolls her eyes. "Of course, it'd be useless if I didn't."

I smirk with humor and follow Yuka out, Yuki shutting the dorm door behind her. We walk down the hall, the clomping of our shoes enough to get me jumpy. Branches tapping on windows, the moon full, it's like a horror movie, except the real horror now is trying to apologize to someone, so maybe a horror movie spoof? I shrug to myself and stop as Yuki tries to open her door. She knocks and no answer comes through. I try my hand at it; it's stuck. I use a vector to open it and I end up snapping the knob off. I gulp and try to fix it normally, but that fails miserably. Yuka sighs and runs into the door, the door flying open without its knob. Yuki and I exchange quick glances and shrug, so I toss the knob on her bed and Yuki sets me down on a desk chair past the wall next to the door. A mirror is hanging to the left of the desk, a cabinet to the right. The desk isn't large, and neither is the computer or the monitor, but it works. Yuki gets to chatting thing started up and I now stare at some info thing. I'm suddenly reminded of a dating site and stare back at Yuki and Yuka, both on the floor in front of Yori's bed (Yuki's dorm mate).

"Please tell me this is a chat room and not a dating site," I groan.

They nod. "It's just a questionnaire and a sign up," they say in unison.

Creepy, I tell you that now. I sigh and look back at it.

**(My answers are in italics).**

1.** Getting to know you **

**What's your eye color?**

_Red-pink_

**What's your favorite sport?**

_Running?_

**Do you like to read?**

_I guess._

**Are you a night or a day person?**

_Are you a stalker or just some nosy G*T?_

**What's your favorite food?**

_WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING? Rice Balls, okay?_

**Do you have a crush?**

**What's the best thing in the world to you?**

_The fact there's life._

**What's your favorite movie?**

_F*CK off_

2.** Username**

**Create a username**

**Be sure to keep it at a 6-11 range minimum. It has to have numbers.**

_Imaginaryhead1985_

3. **Password**

_Nice try, readers_

4. **Friends**

**Here are some people in your area if you'd like to have some 'starter friends'.**

I look down the list.

Emo-Deliro84 

ScrewedDuo21 (why are there more?)

FAGGOTRADER553

ChickMagnet47

Limibitisky74

ILUVPOCKY2

ILUVPOCKY1

Freaksingledout1:3

Kota'sGF4EVER

NIGHTCLASSHOVERSTAKER2

NIGHTCLASSSTALKERHOVER2

ToOl5

KKWHTEV7

SmexyFlexy8

I blink. Who uses SmexyFlexy8 as a username? I sigh and try to determine who's who. Yuki and Yuka come up. Yuki's FAGGOTRADER553 because she thought it was funny. Yuka I know already. I'm still wondering if Zero's Emo-Deliro84 or not. I click done, since I can't determine anyone else! I come up to the next step.

5.** Avatar**

I tilt my head and take out my camera, flipping to the picture of Nana and I, just relaxing. Well, the 'I' is Nyuu, so…Our faces are covered with those bird cookies, Nyuu waving at the camera with a decapitated cookie. I smile and realize we're on a park bench, so we have hats on. I smile and offer the camera to Yuki.

"Is there a way to get that as the 'avatar'?" I ask, a bit of hope in my voice.

Truth be told, I never really wanted to hurt Nana, I just didn't want her to butt into my Death Sentence. As the days rolled by that time, we got along better. She even missed me that one time. Yuki smiles and does her computer magic, the picture appearing in three sizes on the screen. Yuka smiles and pats my shoulder. I feel at the cap. No bleeding yet gladly. After the avatar is done, I'm done and it enters me into the chat room.

Imaginaryhead1985: Logged on.

Kota'sGF4EVER: Hi imaginaryhead1985!

I turn to Yuka to see both on those portable laptops. I roll my eyes and smirk.

Imaginaryhead1985: Is anyone else on?

ChickMagnet47: Hello! ^.^

Imaginaryhead1985: …Uh…

FAGGOTRADER553: Don't pay attention to him. He's weird.

ChickMagnet47: :-(

I laugh at that. Imaginaryhead1985: LOL. (I'm not present dead) Hey, is anyone else here? ChickMagnet47 seems like…I don't know…a stalker.

Limibitisky74: No, NIGHTCLASSHOVERSTALKER2 and NIGHTCLASSSTALKERHOVER2 are the stalkers of the chatting area.

Imaginaryhead1985: Oh.

Freaksingledout1:3: Hey, UR new aren't u?

Imaginaryhead1985: SI

ScrewedDuo21: Logged on.

Freaksingledout1:3: Oh, u.

ScrewedDuo21: WHT?

Imaginaryhead1985: Aren't we a bit touchy today, mister?

ScrewedDuo21: STFU

Limibitisky74: Be nice, jerk, she's new.

Imaginaryhead1985: Hey…can I ask how this 'avatar' thing works?

Limibitisky74: Oh, you click on somebody's name and the picture comes up with info.

Imaginaryhead1985:…Oh CR*P.

Okay, so _that's _what the info thing was for.

Imaginaryhead1985: LOL, but how do you change info?

ChickMagnet47: Why?

I blink at the screen. Imaginaryhead1985: Reasons.

Freaksingledout1:3: I read it, and I think it's actually funny in a way.

I smile. Imaginaryhead1985: Yeah, if u say so.

Limibitisky74: Why? What did u put?

Imaginaryhead1985: Read it, it's weird.

ChickMagnet47: I finished. Hey, why is 'Do You Have A Crush' blank?

Imaginaryhead1985: Really?

I click on ChickMagnet47 and gap; it's Aido from Night Class. How could I _not _see that? I click on ScrewedDuo21 and smile slightly. This is Zero, which I can tell from the answers. Apparently they ask different questions at different times to different people.

**Do you have a lot of friends?**

_Screw you, it's none of your business_

**Do you like sports?**

_No._

**Do you like Fantasy books?**

_No._

**What's the most common thing you say?**

_No._

**Do you have a crush?**

_Slight._

Yeah right! **Have you dealt with death?**

**Are you homosexual?**

_NO!_

**Do you have a diary?**

_That's like asking if I'm homosexual with different F*CKING words._

**Do you have any siblings?**

…_One._

**Who's your best friend?**

_She's dead._

I blink and go back to some argument between Aido and Limibitisky74. I sigh and start typing.

Imaginaryhead1985: Hey, ScrewedDuo21, why didn't you answer #6?

No answer.

Imginaryhead1985: I mean, you already answered it on #10, so what's the point?

Everything's silent. After a bit of hesitation, he speaks.

ScrewedDuo21: F*CK off.

I freeze. I sigh and slam my finger on the sign off. I stand and walk out. I don't care if I get in trouble, I'm apologizing verbally even if it F*CKING kills me. I shove out the dormitories building and storm to the boys', twisting the knob angrily and stomping in. I count up the numbers and start scaling the stairs, when I see Zero, annoyed with a net book. _Strange…shouldn't he be in his dorm? _I think to myself. Yet again what isn't a thought here? I try to take another step, but something chimes out the window, but I think only I can hear it. Yep, I'm crazy. Despite that, my mind tells me to squint, so I do so and see something…_a collection of golden festival bells?_ I loose all feelings in my legs, and I fall back, tumbling all the way. I slam my head hard on the rail, and all goes back for both Nyuu and me.

O.0

"**Kaede!" someone calls. "Look what I found!"**

**A younger me, four, is sitting on a rock, jingling the collection of bells that chimes. The breeze is light, and my cap is small, my little pink hair fully covered. I turn to a little girl, my age, with the same length of white hair and big, and I mean BIG, red eyes bigger than her stomach. She's pale and she's wearing a little white shirt, a pink tutu, and black torn leggings. Cute, may I admit, but revealing that she's my sister by guess. She presents a boy, holding him by the hood of his jacket. He's my age, and struggling. She hugs him and I raise a brow, giggling (never thought I could).**

"**Level, put him down."**

"**Oh, can't we keep him?" she begs, squeezing the living daylights out of him.**

**He huffs and pushes her arms away, or tries. "MOMMY!"**

**A woman with a brown ponytail comes over, her brown shirt and jeans just right on her tan skin and her smile welcoming. "Ichiru, I think somebody has a fancy for you."**

**Ichiru stops, turning his head of silver hair to his mother. "What does 'has a fancy' mean?"**

**I stand and start prying Level off, Level kicking and screaming. A woman with light crimson hair near pink comes over, her hair a bob to her chin and her eyes light brown. She's pale, wearing a sky-blue T with black dress pants and some gray boots. "I'm sorry, but my daughter Level is one for living beings."**

**Level and I turn to her. "MOMMY!" we scream, running to hug her calves. **

**Another boy comes out, behind a man with silver hair. The boy peeks out to reveal himself looking the exact same as Ichiru, his silver hair down above his brows and his BIG violet orbs bigger than Level's (if possible). I wave and smile kindly. "Hi, my name's Kaede!"**

"**Hi…" he ducks behind the man a bit. "I'm Zero."**

**The two mothers smile and look at each other. "So, you're also a vampire hunter," they say in unison.**

O.O

WHAT? WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, DOUBLE WHOA! Are you saying my mom's a F*CKING vamp hunter? Well, you're not, but this…vision apparently, is! HOLY SH*T! THE MOTHER OF THE QUEEN OF DICLONIUS IS A VAMP HUNTER! I open my eyes weakly with a sigh. I can't change myself anymore than I have I guess. I feel someone shake me roughly and I look up to Zero. I blink tiredly and my mouth opens slightly with weakness to keep it closed. I let my head drop to the left and I see someone running down the hall; Yuki, Ruka, Aido, and several other vampires. I grip something and push my head to the right to see what I'm exactly clutching; Zero's hand. I shut my eyes.

"Sorry."

Blood trickles down my face and into my mouth sickly. I drop all control.


	7. Level 7

"**Sis-tar…" Level sticks her tongue in her cheek, scribbling on paper.**

**I look over, seeing an 'original' drawing of us together with Mom and Dad and Zero, his brother, and their parents. A man with platinum hair and blue eyes is talking with Zero's Dad, laughing and each patting the other's back at least once. I smile. My young mind, now four and a _half_, registers this man as my father. **

"**Oh, you know how long it's been since the last I saw you?" Zero's dad laughs.**

"**A WEEK?" Zero's mom screams in his ear to be annoying. **

**He jumps and Level and I laugh. Zero walks in, carrying some piece of paper and holds it to me. "I made this for you Ka!"**

**I smile and take it, staring at a drawing of both families, much like what Level did, but better. I smile and hug him around the neck, triggering a flash of a camera. Zero and I rub our eyes and glare at Mom, who's smiling innocently. Level laughs and points at us with a nub of a crayon. Ichiru stumbles in, obviously sickly. I wave kindly and he gives me a weak smile. **

**The scene changes to a sky-blue plain, with light and thin clouds painted with soft strokes of watercolor. A flash, a scream, an angry voice, another scream, a flash, and next I know, a white doll ribbon flies into the air, dampen with crimson.**

I shoot my eyes open. I was wearing the hat again in there, and 'Zero' wasn't at all scared. I guess he didn't know. I sit up, rubbing my eyes. "Nyuu…"

OH COME ON NYUU! THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!

"Nyuu, Nyuu Nyuu Nyuu!"

Yes, I know we hit our head, but out of all that time you couldn't have stayed back? You know I hate it when you take over during my unconsciousness!

"NYUU!" Don't be fooled; she's crying.

Rubbing tears out of her eyes and bawling like the split personality she is, the bawling eventually echoes. She sneezes, a large-you know even I'm about to vomit so ZIP! She keeps her mouth shut, to prevent the...stuff…from going into her mouth. I kick a nerve in her arm to grab a tissue and she rubs it all off, standing to chuck it into the trash. I must admit, she's learned how to do several things now, but I just wonder how exactly she was created. The door opens and Nyuu turns to a slightly stunned Zero. He blinks and stares, making both Nyuu and I uncomfortable, despite the fact that I'm inside.

"Nyuu?" Nyuu asks, it being her way of asking if you must know 'What?' 'Your business here is?' a series of 'NYUU!' that I have trouble keeping up with.

Zero sighs. "Hello, _Nyuu_,"-he says it like it's some disease- "is Lucy in there somewhere?"

"Nyuu," she blinks. She can't understand him. He sighs and moves to leave, but she grabs his sleeve, falling down on her knees in the process. He freezes, tensing up, and stares back at me (or us). I gulp inside, but Nyuu just tears up her eyes. "Z…Z…Z-e-r-o…Zero!"

He blinks down, his mouth in a slight gap. You know that moment when girls think it's the F*CKING end of the world when that happens? Well, you can add me to that list. I mean come on this is SO embarrassing! This is _Queen__of__Diclonius_talking here, and I'm worried about _that_. Doesn't it tell you something? He kneels and stares at me still. Nyuu smiles and she lets go, sitting on her own calves. Zero blinks, closing his mouth. He pats my head and sighs.

"Oh how I wish I could explain."

Nyuu and I both blink. "What?" I mutter inside, making Nyuu clutch her head. Gad I'm so stupid! She doesn't react well if I speak inside her! She winces, crying out in pain. I huff and stand, trying to find out where I put that LILIUM charge. You see, before I went to this Heck, I made myself a little way to help her calm down, and that was a little thought in her head that never went away. I call it the 'charge' since it's pretty much the only thing I could come up with. I grip the thought successfully, not being three dimensional like you might think, and strengthen the signal, bringing forth the memory of hearing that wonderful song. She begins to calm down, which then she panics all over again. I try my VERY best to calm her down, but she's just spooked. I sigh.

Nyuu hit your head.

"NYUU!"

Nyuu hit your head _now_.

She starts bawling her eyes out, and stops with an embrace. Someone pats our back, thankfully far from a vector spot (we don't have to repeat Nana's incident do we?). "Calm down, it's just a little blood is all…"

I sigh. Nyuu hit your head!

Nyuu pokes Zero's shoulder and he looks up at her, blinking blankly. "What is it Nyuu?"

She points to her head and he sighs, standing and retrieving the same bent tray he hit me with last time. I sigh and Nyuu braces for impact, covering her face so he at least didn't give us a nosebleed. He holds his breath and smacks me, hard. I fall on the floor, unconscious.

"**Mommy! Mommy! Look at me!"**

"**Yes, that's really nice Level."**

**I look over at my sister dressed up for the Renaissance Festival. It's a Japanese Princess costume with a long jade kimono, cloth white roses trailing her white braid, and a wooden fan with a green rose painted across by Mom herself. I look down to see I'm a page of sorts, having an excuse to hide my horns. My past self recalls my Dad saying that they accept me, but others aren't so nice. I agree, or agreed back then as well as now. I love them, even though they may not be alive as in this memory as of now. Knocking sounds and Dad, refusing to dress up because that's what kids are for (Level and I laugh at this), races to the door, covering his head with his right arm so Mom can't put on a Fool hat and opens the door. Ichiru races in, looking like some form of prince and hugs Level. I chuckle in the past at the pairing and turn to a grumpy looking hunk of knight armor, the arm lifting the visor to reveal a rather P*SSED Zero. I laugh and he starts chasing me, in which Mom snaps a picture in order for us to start chasing her, claiming we were _not_dress up dolls. **

**The scene flickers to a 16" doll with a black dress going to her knees and purple torn leggings tucked under some doll sized heels. The hair is braided and brown, the eyes painted green. The doll's pale, and has white doll ribbon tied around her hand as if it were bandages.**

I rub my bloody head and push up, walking over to the tissues and dapping at the spot. Zero takes my wrist and pulls it down, leaving him room to dap it with a proper cloth. Soon he places the bandages on the cuts in the horn and the bones pulsate a bit, shoving their growth up. Zero smiles for some odd reason. "Hey, they're half-way."

I feel at them and they are indeed half-way. I smirk. I'm remembering more and more, but what about that mark? Did he ever tell me? Oh SH*T I hate it when hitting someone's head causes amnesia! "Hey, Zero?" He stares at me. "Did you know anyone named Kaede?"

He stumbles back a bit, gasping and gaping. He clears this shocked expression and stiffens, his eyes filled with sadness. "I…I have to go."

He walks out. I stare at the door in which he came from. What was that? Wait…was _he_the one who shot me all those years ago? If so…why?


	8. Level 8

Don't blame me for hating Christmas, ladies and gents, for it is useless to take from others _just _because. Why am I saying this all now? Well, the event is only two weeks away, which makes me want to commit suicide to tell all truth. I sit in my dorm, my radio _WAY _too loud for the normal volume, but I'm in 'that' wing. Think about it, and you'll get it.

Loading…

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Give up?

That abandoned wing in _every _private school. I guess it's due to my Diclonius nature, but hey, I'm not _that _dangerous (I laugh at myself). Someone knocks on the door and I ignore them, preferring Disturbed than some bratty human. That's when someone bangs on the door, so I sigh and stand, storming over and slamming 'Pause' on my radio. I open it to someone with a gray hood-jacket, her brown hair coming down to her mid-torso in tangles and her dark jeans hovering over white sneakers. I raise a brow and she hands me something wrapped in green, tied with red. Oddly enough, I feel warm with the presence of these two colors.

"Level 30 told me to give that to you," she answers my mental question with a voice of water.

I raise a brow. "Who the heck is Level," I gasp in shock; _who's Level 30? _Duh! It's that chick with the thirty vectors. More importantly, lucky guess I hope, my twin.

"So, Kaede," the chick sighs, "are you going back home or staying here?"

"Why should I tell you?" I snap. This chick is a total stranger, and she wants to know where I am for Christmas? I'm not an idiot!

She sighs and vectors slip out. Yet again, I could be wrong about that idiot comment. "My name is Cass, but most call me Level 25, the Princess of the Levels."

I furrow my brows. "What the heck are Levels?" Well, so much for 'Level 30' being my sister.

She chuckles as if we're best friends, which startles me I must admit. "I'm only a year younger, Kaede, and please have some faith in Level; she's been through thick and thin as well as you."

I blink. I _really _need to go up to Life's door, break into his house, and beat the living CR*P out of him, remind me will you? "Wait, so…"

She smiles gently. "You remember her, I know. Now, she wants to see you on Christmas, to fill in those black gaps. In that is something…what was his name?"

"Zero Kiryu," I reply.

"Yeah, him, he doesn't know the photos, but one Thanksgiving, at least that was what Mom told me, he saw that and started getting curious. He dropped the subject later."

I blink. "Is…Is Level your _mom_?" I gap.

She nods. "It's not exactly like that though. We come from pure insides, not Sex."

I nod. "How…never mind, I'll as Level."

She smiles and turns to go, but stops for a second. "You know, you used to know everything about Levels." As she walks away, without turning, she adds, "including what they're a mix of."

I blink and stare down at the present. It has been approximately three days from my infirmary release, school enough torture. After those two days spent in there, those days I spent thinking about if Zero shot me or not, I was released and almost completely forgot about that. _Almost_. I walk back into my room and shut my door. Talk about random. I shove the present under my bed, planning to at least save it for Christmas and realize something; I never told Level 25 where I'm going for Christmas!

"_Don't worry," _a voice rings, that belonging to the Level in mention, _"I know."_

I sigh and stiffen, clutching my face in my right hand, the other gripping my uniform skirt. "I need to stop drinking decaf."

:-?

I knock on the door and Yuki answers, since this is the Chairman's house. She smiles and drags me into a disgustingly cheerful environment, in which I nearly hurl. She stops in front of the sofa and smiles kindly as if Christmas came early. "May I help you, Lucy?"

I gulp. Now, I'm not sure I want to go by that anymore. "Uh, yeah, do you have any _caffeinated _coffee?"

She giggles a bit. "Yes we have that, but why would you need that Lucy?"

I cringe. "Uh, yeah, um…" should I? Well, I can trust her for sure. "I'm hallucinating, and I need something to wake me up."

That's when she raises a brow, still smiling. I would bet all my money that she's thinking 'Someone call the asylum' or something like that, but hey, can you blame her? "Uh…okay?" she giggles nervously.

I sigh. "Look, it's long, complicated, and I can't fill in most of the F*CKING gaps," I shrug. "Although, that male you actually call a _friend _might be able to tell you."

She raises a brow. "D…Do you mean _Zero_?"

I nod and brush a strand of hair from my temple. She screams and I raise a brow, my temple somehow stinging. I feel at it to a deep cut, something stuck in their. I wince as I dig my nails in, dodging muscle as best as I can and drag out a long shotgun cartridge. She covers her mouth, her eyes wide and worried. I blink down at the cartridge and watch as Zero walks in, freezing when he finds the bullet. "I think this is yours," I snap, lifting it up.

Yuki blinks and looks from me to Zero. "Z-zero, what does she mean by that?"

Zero blinks, speechless. Level eight out of thirty, baby! He sighs and walks forward, plucking the bullet from my palm and examining it. He raises a brow and returns it, sober. "No, mine was bigger."

"ZERO!" Yuki gasps.

Zero sighs and turns slightly to her. "Yuki, let's just say…"

"Our parents knew each other," I finish. "Although, the blackness of my mind swerves all around the 'why' for some reason, mind explaining that?"

He sighs and sits down, Yuki sitting next to him after I shake my head for her offer. "Remember what I said when you first came? When I said 'I don't believe that SH*T'?"

He quotes it perfectly…like he can't stop thinking about it. I nod. "Keep going, snow top."

He smirks lightly. I have a feeling I used to say that a lot. "You never showed me until that one night…that one Christmas…"

That's _not _why I hate Christmas! I don't care what you might say, but it's not! I huff. "What did Level do though?"

He blinks up at me. "Level, you mean your twin?" I nod. "Sorry, but I can't really tell who she _is _anymore."

This is when Yuki _and _I stare. "What?" we gap in unison.

He chuckles. "She's sent me letters, saying she'd like to see me again to apologize for my parents' deaths."

I cover my mouth. "Wow, they died? They were so young when I knew them…"

He sighs. "Yeah, well, they didn't die of natural causes, Kaede."

Yuki sighs and stands up. "Should I leave?"

I shake my head. "Yuki, you're a part of this to. You've sheltered him and…we're (gulp) _friends _right?"

Yuki smiles and nods, Zero tugging her sleeve so she sits down. "So, you're name is Kaede."

I nod. "I never knew what it meant to be named that though…"

Zero shrugs. "Honestly, Lucy is your _middle _name." Huh, convenient. I didn't change it, I just went by a certain part of my name. "Have you seen Level 25 yet per chance?"

I nod. "She was here before I came here for caffeinated coffee."

He raises a brow. "Why?"

I shrug. "I thought I was hallucinating, next topic?"

He rolls his eyes. "What do you want to know that Level won't already talk about?"

I shrug. "Well, I keep seeing _Doll ribbon_…"

He blinks, gaping. "You said w-white doll ribbon, right?"

I nod, brows furrowed. "Why?"

He stands up and runs into another room, coming out with a shovel and running out the door. Yuki and I exchange quick glances before following. You think it's nice to know who you are, right? Well, when doll ribbon becomes _deadly_, that can tell you something. He stops next to a Cherry Blossom tree and digs the shovel head deep into the soil, heaving it up and dumping the soil onto the ground. I help by using my vectors to go into the ground, searching for something. I feel what I think is metal, and the ground lifts up, a metal rectangle box lifting out. He drops the shovel and my vectors drop the box into his hands, causing him to knee down and search himself for something. I feel something in my hand and drag up front an elegant key. I pass it to him and he shoves it in the lock, the lid opening and him shoving it open. He screams, and Yuki and I step closer, Yuki faster and kneeling next to him, rubbing his arms up and down.

"Zero, Zero calm down, tell us what's wrong!"

Well, at least she included me. He stares at the box in absolute horror. "The doll, Level's doll…IT'S GONE!"


	9. Level 9

"What doll?" I ask.

Zero grips his head and falls flat on his as*, wide eyed at the case. I swear that glint in his eyes is fear. "You don't remember everything, do you?"

I shake my head and sit down, back against the tree. So, Level had a doll with white doll ribbon, that's all I know about any doll related to me personally. You might think this is all a dream; that it's too fast to be real, to face-forward. Let me tell you something…he practically told you that he knew me from the beginning! I must've shown him the horns, the vectors, and bad-a-bin-g-bad-a-boom; he hates me for being a freak. Well, I can't assume freak just yet, since he is a _vampire _hunter. You can never tell who's a vampire until you see the fangs. That's when a memory hits me.

"**Daddy, daddy!" Level calls. "Look at me!" **

**She smiles, her teeth not perfect, well, they are, but all except the ones on each side of the two front ones. They're slanted and pointed, like canine teeth, but fit for a human. A vampire. No, my sister is not a vampire. She was born with that medium white hair and red eyes. There's something I don't know, my present self that is. My past, my blurry past, knows everything about Level. **

…**and levels.**

**Level 25 said they were a mix of two. Diclonius is one of them and I know now vampire is the second. Level, or Level 30 if you know her now, is on a stage, a doll with braided brunette hair and glass green eyes clutched in one hand. The doll is wearing a long black dress with long frilly sleeves, dark roses painted on with a slightly lighter black. The doll is barefoot and the skin is that of paper, you know, slightly blue, yet pale? Level is standing like a ballerina, one leg extended behind her slightly off the ground and her body balances on her left ballerina slipper. The arm with her doll is extended back behind her all the way, her wrist bending down and her fingers gripping the doll's waist tightly. I look to my left to Mom, my right to Dad. Level twirls and tosses the doll, which I catch with a vector. Mom laughs softly and pats my cap, since Zero is not far away, dressed like a tree. I laugh and point at him, receiving a tongue sticking out. I copy the gesture and a bush wobbles out, or shrub. Ichiru's face appears, laughing and nervous. I wave and he only moves his eyes around to look like waving, Zero taking advantage of Ichiru's position and ducking behind him. I smile and Ichiru starts beating his twin with the shrub twigs, Zero flinching and fighting back with the branches. The audience is laughing, and an old woman tears up a script. Well, we are ten. Level laughs as she dances, still careful, and then another girl comes up, my younger self immediately frowning. I don't like this girl. This girl is mean. This girl…this girl likes Zero. **

I blink my eyes to the reality. That's right. Level always had a doll since she was six and started kindergarten, because she was always so shy and nervous. Plus, I couldn't go to school, so Mom, with the job where people only called her, home-schooled me. It was WAY more affective than Level's school, so Mom was thinking to home-school both of us…man I want to see her again. I feel someone poke my shoulder and look up from the grass to Yuki, on her knees, in front of me.

"Are you alright?" she asks.

I nod. "I just remembered the doll. How's it important though?"

Zero sighs. "That doll can destroy vampires."

I raise a brow. "I really should switch to caffeinated…"

"No," Zero grunts, a bit of happiness in there somewhere, "it was a transfer, since Level was so shy around everything other than her family and my family."

I smirk slightly. It's nice to know things like that about your sister, huh? "So they had to give her a doll?"

Zero stares at me, definitely serious. "She wouldn't have anything else if it could always hurt people. I even saw her knifing her own back once…" he grows silent, in which he stands. "Probably to get those disgusting vectors out…"

Whoa what? I glare and stand, my vectors also not appreciating the comment. "_Excuse me_?"

"You heard me!" he snaps.

What is with him all of a sudden? I growl and rush my vectors forward, slamming him down onto the other side of the path and Yuki gaps slightly. "L-Lucy…I'm sure he didn't mean it…"

I sigh. I know she's only looking for peace, but this is NOT the way. "Yuki, I respect you, but you don't know how many people I've killed because I didn't know who I was."

Yuki turns to Zero. "Zero, how did she come to…you know?"

Zero grumbles as he pushes himself up. "Easy, I shot her."

Yuki gaps. "B-But why?"

"**FREAK!" **

"**I'M NOT!"**

"**You're actually right, Kaede…VAMPIRE!"**

"He thinks I'm a vampire," I whisper. "He never thought Diclonius weren't vampires."

Yuki sighs and drags me over to Zero, helping Zero the rest of the way up. "You two need to sort this out! I don't know what happened exactly, but Zero I think it was unfair that you called her a vampire just because she is different from others!"

I smile. Go Yuki. Zero rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. "She tried to _drown _me, Yuki…"

I gasp. Those words melt. _Drown me. Drown me. Drrown me. Drrrowwn mee. (Really slow drag) DROWN ME!_

**The girl was twirling; Level was waving at me, the doll in my lap. I made the doll wave with a vector, and she smiled that time. A flash of a picture of us at the Renaissance festival comes to mind, Zero and I both looking cross and sitting on a batch of hay, arms crossed and shoulders pressing against each other, since we always leaned on each other in the pictures. **

I jerk away from Yuki. I need to get that package to see what's in it. I run off to my dorm, panting and huffing. My horns shoot up a bit and tingle with numbness. I feel at my cap to blood, the thick junk that flows in everyone, except the dead. That's when I stop to another flash.

**Level's crying, and thirty vectors are coming out of her back, twenty out of mine, which confuses me. Blood drips down our vectors, and I'm crying myself. Where are Mom and Dad? Why weren't they there to comfort us?**

I shake my head and keep running, stress and pressure all building up inside. My back thumps and my horns sting as they heal. I scream, long and dragged out, and kneel on the ground, gripping my head with wide eyes. Someone kneels next to me, and I know her as Yuka. Something's wrong; everything's in crimson.

**It's Zero and I at a fair, laughing in one of those disfiguring mirrors, hanging onto each other's shoulders.**

I shake my head hard, my neck not taking a liking to the jerks. Yuka shakes my shoulders and yells at me with some gibber I can't translate.

"**Kaede, Kaede, Kaede, Kaede," Level sang as she tossed flower petals onto the ground.**

"**Level, Level, Level, Level," I sang in unison as I swung my legs.**

"**Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up," Zero sighed, flipping the pages of a book. He's nine.**

**Ichiru, Level, and I laugh, Zero smirking lightly.**

Something's really wrong. There's another Diclonius nearby, and it's not Nana. I concentrate. It's…it's…something shoots out of my back rather painfully and I gasp, irises disappearing along with the pupil and fade into white. My cap slips off and my horns do something I wanted them to do for months; they close up, shutting off the bleeding. My head is damp with blood and my back now contains a bloody hole. Eight vectors swarm around me; this probably from being Level's sister and shot in the head as a kid. But…I had twenty then, what's with now? It has to be the result of that first bullet to the head. Yuka tries to shake me out of the phase with vectors pooling out, and that's when a wheelchair squeaks to a stop. Yuki comes over, gasping. Zero comes along, wide-eyed at me. The hole in my back seals and I'm left with thirteen vectors, all the same two meter range. Drat. My irises and pupils return and I drop onto my back.

"How's Big Sister?" a girl, maybe eight, asks.

I'm not looking, but I know just by it. I push myself up with my eight vectors, the vibration strong enough to bring the faintest outline. I give Zero a sad look. It's not his fault he reacted to save those he loved. It's not his fault I'm like this. It's not his fault…it was never his fault. I glare at the girl, this girl you all probably well know. This girl, this chick with pink hair and eyes just like me, is Mariko Kurama.


	10. Challenge Level! Level 10

**Challenge level!**

"Don't call me Big Sister," I growl at her, vectors well at the ready, and her in plain view of range.

"Yuki, Zero?" I gasp. Ichiru walks out, his hair the same amount of longer than Zero, his violet eyes warm and gentle, and his posture more healthy than with the last time I saw him. He spots me, and laughs. "Kaede!"

Mariko stares at him like he just grew vectors, not me. "Who?"

He points at me and Mariko grins at me, laughing. "That's a stupid name! I think you're glad you changed-"

I slam her wheelchair into a tree, making her precious, fake right arm screw loose. She cries and throws her vectors at me, but I fight them back, my eyes pulsing pink. I twist a few around the others and throw several back at her. Ichiru stares at me with that friendly smile, so I stop, taking it as a 'cool down'. Zero sighs and walks over, checking my forehead for fever no doubt. He pries it off and hands me that bottle with the purple liquid. Now that I think about it, I now notice it. I gulp down the small cup he provides and Ichiru comes over to pat my head, cringing at the blood. I don't blame him. Mariko scowls and glares at Ichiru.

"Eh, hem!" she pouts, crossing her arms (the little brat).

Ichiru sighs, but I hold his arm. "Don't help her, she's the bad one!"

"Oh _I'm _the bad one," she mimics. "What proof do you have that you're any better than any other Diclonius?"

Something slams the side of her wheelchair, which brings me to the familiar face of 25. "Stop bad mouthing my aunt," she mutters. "Hello Kaede."

I wave and Mariko raises an amused brow. _"Aunt huh?"_

"Don't think about it," another squeaky voice cackles. "Our Queen is far stronger than you'd ever be, Mariko."

A ten-year-old drops down from a tree, a black, puffy short sleeved dress swaying lightly. Fifteen vectors come out, and I raise a brow. Why are all these levels over ten so far? Mariko glares at me, then Zero, and then Yuki. "Who are you're little friends huh? Who's Jack Frost and Alice also, _Kaede_?"

I glare and slam her wheelchair. "'Jack Frost' is a famous poet. 'Alice' is a character in a fictional book and the name of an Abby Dawn song. My 'little friends' are the speakers inside of me that prove that I need to quit decaf."

Ichiru muffles a laugh. Man is he healthier than ever! Mariko growls. "Quit the act and tell me, you-"

"Oh, this must be Mariko!" I hear the Chairman greet.

Gulp. I turn to him as he enters the area. "What do you mean?"

"Why, he father enrolled her."

Yuka stares at me as my jaw drops. "Lucy…"

I stiffen, resting a hand on Yuka's shoulder. "Her father is supposed to be dead, Yuka."

Fifteen, by what I can figure, primps while leaning against a tree and looks up at Zero, interested as far as I can tell. I shoot her a look, so she just cackles. The once sunny day turns stormy, and now it looks like it's going to snow. Does every level have an extra ability?

"_Some more than others," _Twenty-five informs mentally.

"_Level?"_

"_She has a bunch," _she shrugs, and I mean she actually shrugs. _"One, she can control that doll in full effect-"_

"What doll?" I blurt, staring at her.

Zero blinks at me. "Huh?"

Twenty-five smiles. "The doll Level carries around. She spends most of her time cleaning dirt off of it though."

I glare at Zero and he glares back. What is he glaring at _me _for? _He's _the one who put it there! He's the one who remembers everything! I stomp my foot and glare at the Chairman. "You can't accept Mariko here into this academy."

He raises a brow. "Why not?"

Maiko smirks, but Ichiru, Yuki, Yuka, and Zero all have my side, Fifteen and Twenty-five acting more like guards at the moment. "She has twenty-six vectors," I count the excuses off my fingers, "her vectors are eleven yards long, she's blood thirsty, she is eight and a Diclonius, her dad tortured me for years, she's evil, she's one of the reasons my horns were gone-"

"Really?" Ichiru blurts.

I nod at him with a fake smile, returning to the excuses. "-and she's a reason why Nana, my friend from my day one, is living with us and not a family."

Yuki covers her mouth, but Yuka whispers something in Yuki's ear and it seems to calm her down a little. Mariko glares and Fifteen restrains her vectors, just to be safe. The Chairman looks at me. I sigh and cross my arms and mouth 'she can't live if you don't want people to die'. He nods, understanding. That's when her head explodes under the force of all thirteen vectors.

^.^

Oh yeah, she's dead! WOHOO! Just kidding, I'm not _that _happy. Yuka got a call from Kota saying things weren't going very well, so the Chairman decided to drop her out, yet allow her to get the work and get full credit to boost up her college chances. I'm sitting in Zero's dorm, watching the two brothers play an old game Level and I apparently made up. The goal was to see what the other twin was thinking based on what you know about them. I'm holding the package that Twenty-five left, like, really early this morning. Fifteen also left, and I rip open the wrapping. I take out a red, hard-cover scrapbook, large red lace ribbon on the left side of the book and looping through the cover to the back to hold the book together securely. Ichiru smiles over at me.

"Hey, Level's old scrapbook!"

I blink and stare up at him. "Wait, this is her _old _scrapbook?"

Zero nods. "Did you think she was going to give you one of how she was doing or something?"

Ichiru turns to Zero. "Actually, that'd make some sense."

Zero shrugs. "Well, in Lucy's case, it wouldn't."

Ichiru raises a brow. "Why is everyone calling you Lucy, Kaede? That's your middle name!"

I nod. "I didn't know that when I lost my memory, so I changed it to be original. Mom beat me to it of course…"

I stop, in which Zero walks over and pats my arm. "Don't worry; you're not the only one who lost a mom."

I widen my eyes and suddenly, he's pinned to the wall, my eyes focused on him. "MY MOM WHAT?"

Ichiru gulps. "I don't think she remembered that."

"You…THINK!" Zero chokes.

I pull back my vectors and grip the arms of the chair. Mom…

**Blood dripping down our vectors….**

No…

**Level's crying, along with me…**

No…

**Where's Mom, where's Dad, why are we stuck in a bathroom? Why are there holes everywhere? What's that creaking? Who's screaming outside?**

NO…

"**We love you!" Mom waves goodbye at a bus stop as I walk with Level to visit the Kiryu family. Dad is next to her, his eyes sparkling red. The scene flashes to corpses on grass, hearts in their palms, and the blonde hair of the man covering the eyes and the red-pink hair of the woman clear when revealing a smile, as if she expected to die…**

NO!

My vectors shoot out, but by luck, they miss Ichiru and Zero. I put my head in my hands and drop the scrapbook. This can't…my one chance of living parents…gone…I killed them along with Level…we didn't want to…someone pats my shoulder and I look up with teary eyes to Zero. He sighs and hands me the scrapbook, kneeling at the left of the chair and Ichiru crawling over to kneel at the right. I open the scrapbook and on the first page it has: 'Friendship Memories' scrawled onto it in elegant, loopy writing. There are four separate pictures. One is the upper right forth of Ichiru's head; the second is the lower left forth of Zero's head, then the upper left of Level and the lower right of me: a collage to make a scrambled face. I admire her creativity. I flip the page to see none other than Mom, holding two little girls' hands and laughing into the camera. Her hands were tight around ours, so I think I can get what Zero is trying to tell me now, even though he doesn't get it that I know.

"She loved you, so don't feel so bad," he pats my shoulder.

Okay, how does that help a person? I mean, I killed my mom, and he's telling me she loved me. Doesn't that make a person bonkers? I sigh. Apparently not. My chest feels cold when I look at the next picture; Level dancing and that girl not far, looking at Zero far at the left of the stage.

"**Hey, Zero!" she calls behind her, twirling a lock of hair.**

**I growl under my breath. Can't she just die already, end it? **Wait…end what? **I hate her…she hurt Level…**How?** CAN'T SHE JUST SUFFOCATE? BE CHOPPED UP BY A-**Jeez I was more violent as a kid! **Ugh, at least…wait, where's Level? **

"**Level?" I call. "LEVEL?"**

**We're supposed to go to Grandma's…Grandma isn't here…where is she?**

"**Hey, stupid," that chick calls. "Are you looking for Creepy?"**

**I clench my fists. **_**Just do it**_**. **Who said that? **No, Dad always says to be the better person. **_**He's just a stupid vampire. **__Vampire? _**Shut up. "She has a name, Yuck."**

**She rolls her eyes dramatically. "It's Yak, and I wouldn't talk, _Kaede_. I mean what kind of stupid woman would name their child that?"**

"**Shut up, it's a nice name."**

"**Admit it, even you hate it."**

"**Shut up."**

"**Make me!"**

**I bite my lip. Be the better person Kaede, be the better girl. I try to walk away, but that's when I find Level holding grandma's hand, the doll Kimia in the other. "Kaede! I found Granny!"**

"**Can't she act her age?" Yak puffs.**

"**Can't you be any more egotistical?" I snap.**

**Grandma and Level walk up, Grandma with her aged white bun and her pale wrinkled skin. Her eyes are deep brown with a faint luster of blood, and her nails are fine and long. Yep, this is Dad's mom, the one who can't die easy. "How's my little Kaede?"**

**I hear Yak laugh slightly behind me. I swear that girl is going to get it. "Good."**

"**Hey, why don't you tell her about what you tried to GIVE ZERO ON VALENTINE'S DAY?"**

**I notice Zero stopping somewhat a few feet away, clinging to his mom's arm. He raises a brow and I look down. Yak shouldn't have mentioned that, she shouldn't even know! "How did you…?" **

**She dangles a white doll ribbon off her pinkie, making Level pale. "You promised!"**

**Yak smirks and tears it, letting the pieces drop to the floor. "Oops."**

**Grandma steps in front of me. "You'll be sorry little girl," Grandma promises, scooting us away.**

"**You're so brave Kaede, having to be saved by a hag!"**

**I stop, Grandma trying to push me forward. "What was that?" I mutter through gritted teeth.**

"**I said-"**

**She jerks her head to the left, spitting teeth out mixed with blood. Something invisible to a lot of people punched her. "It's called a rhetorical question."**

"**Hey, what was-"**

**It hits her again, more teeth being knocked out. "At least I have my family, orphan."**

**She growls. "Shut up! I'm glad I don't have a freak of a sister!"**

"**I'm glad that you're mother was slowly murdered," I grin under my mask of hair. I want her to be angry, just to charge and to allow me a reason to hit her. **

**She forms fists. "Shut UP!"**

"**I'm glad that you get along _so well _with the warden…tell me…how's the kid?"**

**People gasp. I know all about how the warden rapes her and he has a kid, a dead wife, and now a little slut, A.K.A-Yak. She screams and charges, my vectors not reacting in time. She tackles me, ripping at my flesh and trying to rip the cap off to pull at my hair, but I can't. Zero doesn't know about the horns, none of his family does. I push her off with my legs and stand up, Level ducking behind Grandma and Grandma trying to get me to come behind her, but I refuse. Yak, the thirteen-year-old trying to get at Zero, she's gotten on my nerves for the last time. I want her to be hurt, but I won't kill. Mom said killings bad. _Have you tried? _Shut up! I stand there, my twenty-vectors slipping out from my back and ripping up the ground, throwing parts of floor at her. Zero runs up to me, seizing my shoulders from behind and shaking me. **

"**Stop it!" he cries. "Stop it!"**

**I blink, my vectors frozen in place. I see Yak's pushed off of the stage, her ankle twisted. She's crying. I'm ten, and it's the month of my birthday, almost to that very date. I turn to Zero. "Z…Zero…" I feel my eyes moisten.**

"**How did you…are you…huh?" he pants, his eyes wide.**

**I bite my lip and run. He'll hate me forever if I tell him. Forever…**

I find myself on the floor, but I can't move anything, well, my lungs I can but by barely. Zero…

**It's been two days from the incident and it is Christmas, three days from my birthday. Grandma had to go home…**

I sit up with strain. I get the picture that Grandma wasn't there, so she might be living. Ichiru hauls me up and sets me onto one of the beds, patting my back. "What's wrong?" he asks.

I look up to Zero. **"FREAK!"**

"**I'm not!"**

"**You're right…VAMPIRE!"**

"**SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ZERO!"**

"**EXPLAIN THE HORNS!"**

"**I WAS BORN WITH THEM! HAVEN'T YOU NOTICED THE CAP?" **

"**I TRUSTED YOU! All this time…YOU WERE ONE OF THEM!"**

"**NOT ALL VAMPIRES ARE BAD!"**

"**SO YOU ADMIT IT!"**

"**NO! I'M NOT AN F*CKING VAMPIRE!"**

"**Hey," Mrs. Kiryu rushes out, "what's going on here?"**

**Of course I put my cap back on, but my vectors were appearing. "YOU JERK!"**

**I shove Zero into the river behind my house. He thrashes, but my vectors hold him there. Mrs. Kiryu tries to help him, so I let him go for her sake, not Zero's. He sputters and chokes, glaring at me. Soon, everyone is out. Level stops, Kimia clutched firmly in her hand. Even I can smell it; blood, Zero's blood. She clutches her throat and her red eyes flicker with blood. She looks at me with panic. She hasn't had her monthly dose.**

If you ask me what 'monthly dose' means, I can give you a fair bet it means blood. Hey, if Dad was a vampire, don't you think something like that would happen to his offspring? Mom apparently wasn't, so that's good in a way. Where did our vectors come from? Did they just come? I bet you it's an affect of the vampire blood. I black out again. I'm four, and I know this is how it started, but my head hurts. _It's a part of memory transitions. _Who said that? I fall on the floor, lifeless as someone plants thoughts in my head. There's only one person I can think of that can truly start this. I know who it is…Level 30.


	11. Level 11

**Level is skipping, collecting little rocks of various sizes and shapes. She finds a smooth pink one and closes her crimson eyes. This is in the third person, the sight, unlike my other visions of the past. Her medium white hair dangles and her little dress bounces up and down as she runs. She slams into a little boy's back and starts crying. Okay, even I felt that! The boy turns with a slightly confused expression.**

"**What wrong?" he ask, sneezing in between words.**

**She just points at her head, blubbering like a baby. **_**Hey, I wouldn't be talking, Kaede. **_I smirk inside. **Yeah, whatever Level. The boy kneels down and places a hand at her forehead, finding it warmer than it should be. "Hey, where are your parents?" Guess who bawls louder? **I feel a prick at the back of my neck. **Okay, ouch, okay alright! You got me on that one! Happy Level? **_**Very. **_I roll my eyes in the darkness.

"**Hey, I…I didn't mean to be offensive!" he defends. "Um…hey, is there anyone you know? Maybe…"**

**She hugs him and whispers. "My head hurt!"**

**Now I know who had the more brain cells. _What did I do to you?_…I don't know, THAT'S THE PROBLEM! Jeez how old are you?_...We're TWINS! _Still doesn't explain it. _Just pay attention! _Alright JEEZ! **

**The boy pats her back and follows her as she stumbles this way and that. That's when I hear the jingling of bells. I know Level hears it as well, so she goes forward, waving goodbye before stopping. She smirks a smirk to familiar. She hugs the boys and picks him up slightly, causing the boy to…_squeak? _Yeah, that's it. She drags him into an area, where little me is sitting on a rock, four and wearing the little cap to cover the horns. **

"**Kaede!" Level calls. "Look what I found!"**

**Little me stops jingling the bells to turn to Level, who switches her hands from his neck to his jacket hood, him struggling to be freed. She hugs him and Little me raises a brow, giggling out of the mere expression of the boy (which explains a lot).**

"**Level, put him down," I sigh.**

"**Oh, can't we keep him?" she begs as she squeezes the living daylights out of him.**

**He tries to push her arm away, "MOMMY!"**

**Mrs. Kiryu comes out, smirking. "Ichiru, I think somebody has a fancy for you."**

**Ichiru stops to blink at his mother in confusion. "What does 'has a fancy' mean?"**

**I hop off the rock to pry Level off, thinking it was time for quits. Mom comes over, laughing softly. "I'm sorry, but my daughter Level is one for living beings."**

"**MOMMY!" Level and I scream, running over to hug her calves. **

**Zero comes out behind Mr. Kiryu. I smile and wave, "Hi, my name's Kaede!"**

"**Hi…I'm Zero."**

**Mrs. Kiryu and my mom meet each others gaze. "So, you're also a vampire hunter."**

**That's when Dad comes out, panting. "Jeez Louise, Janet; can't you just slow down?"**

**Mr. Kiryu laughs. "Oscar?"**

**Dad freezes and looks up from his knees, smiling. "Well look here! Is that you Kiryu?"**

"**The same!" That's when both moms raise a brow of confusion. "Oh, uh, yeah, this is an old college friend, Oscar Jima."**

**Jima? **_**It's short for Jimenez. **_**But why is there an 'a' there instead of an 'e'? **_**That's how the college records put it, thanks to the spell check. **_**Jeez, that thing **_always_**busts things up! **

**The scene shifts to both of us in a bath, five by the looks of it. We allow the water to slam into our backs and we giggle as the steam tickles our noses. Level suddenly stands and walks to a medicine cabinet, taking out a red and black container and turning the open bottle upside down. Nothing comes out, triggering her crying. I jump out of the bath and slip, smacking the ground hard with my face. I don't cry, but it hurts I have to admit that much. Mom runs in, yanking me up and checking the bottle over and over. Nothing comes out, and I don't get why she expects anything to. The doorbell rings, and she starts to panic. She throws us clothes and whispers something to Level, which the present Level tunes me into. **

"**Don't worry sweetie, we'll get more pills, I promise!" **

**Mom runs out, and we scramble to get our clothes on. I tie ribbon to my horns, tugging at it with annoyance. Can't I just wear the cap with a dress? The scene freezes when I walk over to Level and start patting her back as we walk out. **

**Hey, what happened? **_**I paused it. **_**For what reason Level? **_**Don't you want to know what the medication is so I can thoroughly explain what is going to happen? **_I think about it,** yeah. **_**You see, you already know I'm half vampire right? **_**Yeah…**_**Well, those pills are like blood tablets, fake blood, except mine were more effective. Once we ran out, nobody could get us anymore, since the creator had died that previous week. I had to suffice on your guys' blood. **_I blink in my head's darkness. **Wait, so you bit us? **_**I'm not a pureblood, and neither was Dad. Last time I checked, only purebloods can change people. **_**But what about those Level Es? **_**Beats me, sis. **_

**The scene thaws out and we walk into the hall. That's when Level freezes, clutching her throat. Little me sighs and cuts her finger, offering the blood to Level. She nods and lightly bites it, sucking out as little blood as possible. She pushes my hand away and I fold my finger in my palm to prevent panic. We walk into a large living room with Dad trying to drown himself in a bucket of water. I can tell because he can project his thoughts like that. We gasp and pull him out, patting his head. He blinks and hugs us, smiling.**

"**Don't worry, I can't drown," he smiles. "Watch this."**

**He ducks his head back in and gills grow on his neck. That's awesome I must admit. He picks his head back up and Mom walks in with Ichiru clinging to her hand. "Oscar, are you alright?"**

**Dad nods. "Hey, where's Kiryu and Lily?"**

"**They went on business," she decodes. "They asked us to watch Zero and Ichiru a week ago, remember?"**

**He shakes his head. "If you caught me playing with these two, I definitely didn't hear you."**

"**I caught you watching football," she crosses her arms. **

**Level and I are laughing at the amount of trouble Dad's in. "Uh…should I even _answer _that?"**

**Mom throws a book at him, making Dad laugh and run away. "Oscar get back here! I want to see if I can knock a few _brain cells _into that thick skull of yours!"**

**Level and I are rolling on the ground. Ichiru walks further in, but Zero runs past. "Hey, Kaede!"**

**I smile and hop up, meeting Zero's hug. "Zero!"**

**Level jumps up and pats Ichiru on the head. "Good boy!"**

**He sighs. "I have a name…"**

**Zero and I laugh, in which I point to a chest of sorts. "Come on, I bet I'll beat you this time!"**

"**Fat chance, you're a girl!" he challenges, both of us running for the chest. **

**I notice my hair's not hidden, so that's one off of why he said those things. I, having beaten him to it, open it up and take out wooden swords, tossing one to Zero and then meeting him in a parry. I quickly snatch out a pirate hat, my attention slightly being dragged further, and Zero taking out some other hat, a landlubber? Wait, huh? LEVEL PAUSE IT! She pauses it of course at a point I stab Zero in the arm.**

**What's going on? **_**What do you mean? You're sword fighting with Zero. **_**Not that, I used the term 'landlubber'. Might want to explain where **_that _**came from. **_**Easy, you were interested in pirates back then. **_**And? **_**And that's it. You and Zero, after your second 'play date', decided to make things interesting, so, both of you smarter than your average four year olds, tried looking things up and eventually found American records, so you chose a British side (Zero) and what you thought was most interesting in that, Caribbean pirates. **_**…Okay, got to keep **_that _**in mind. You may resume.**

**She resumes and the scene sort of skips to my sixth birthday. Mom is forcing us to watch old videos, and one is when I'm one, crawling around with my horns revealed. Apparently we didn't get many visitors then. Level kept hitting my back with her tiny fists, her red eyes laughing. I was not. I kept saying 'Nyuu', which would explain a few things with the Nyuu we know today. I kept saying that, because that was…**

"**Oscar, remember Nyuu?" Mom laughs.**

"**You mean her first word?"**

"**Technically it's not a word, dear."**

"**I can look it up, if you'd like." We wait. "Well, there's NYU: New York University."**

"**New York? Oscar, that's in America."**

"**And?"**

"**Where would a _Japanese _girl learn an _American _college name at the age of _one_?"**

"**The internet? I wouldn't be able to tell you Janet."**

**The scene flashes to us at eight, Level coming through a door and me running to greet her, a white shirt with a blue collar outline and a red skirt all fitted to my size. "How was-what the heck happened to you?"**

**Level has a big black eye. "N-Nothing…"**

**I cross my arms. "Come on Level, I'm your sister!"**

"**And?" she snaps. "I'm sorry, but there's something called privacy."**

"**So what? We share everything don't we?"**

"**Not always!" Level complains. "Just because you got out of Mom first doesn't mean you have to know everything!"**

**This is where both present and past me get confused. "I never mentioned anything about having to know _everything_, Level. I just wanted to know how you got a black eye!"**

**Level storms past, running to our room and slamming the door. I clutch my fists, grabbing my cap and running out, slamming the front door. I tug the cap on and run down the street, my little red sneakers hitting the ground with a lot of force. I pant, but my face keeps stern. I skid to a stop a few blocks away at Level's school, where there are a few boys laughing with blood on their hands. I don't think it's them, since Level didn't loose any blood. I run back home.**

**A week later the same thing happened for the forth time, and she was still angry, and I wasn't speaking to her. I called Ichiru up about it, but he reminded me that he was getting sicker, so even if he was up and at them, he wouldn't have a clue where to start. I sigh and slam the phone down, running out the front to catch some air. My cap is low on my head, and only the colors swapped to a navy skirt, a red shirt with a white collar outline. I run a few blocks to the school, seeing the same boys laughing and holding broken glass, crushing it under their palms and onto the ground. I sigh and shake my head, walking the rest of the way to the office. If I can't teach the ones beating her up, might as well report it. I walk in and see Zero, waiting in a row of chairs. That's right, he's in her grade, her school. I'm just homeschooled, yet I know more than Level's learning. I walk to the desk where an ancient woman glares down at me with her thin spectacles and her winkled fingers clutching the edge, pushing her aged body up slightly while leaning towards me. I'm not scared like most kids, she's only human.**

"**What?" she snaps.**

"**I'd like to report someone being beaten up," I bravely state, Zero obviously not hearing me. **

**The woman sits back down and takes out a detention slip. "Who is beating who?"**

"**I don't know, but I know that my sister, Level, is the one being beaten up," I inform. **

**The lady scribbles it down. "Do you have suspicions?"**

**I shake my head and stop. What about those boys I kept seeing outside? "Uh, one, but I'm not positive."**

**She smiles slightly. "That's the point isn't it?"**

**I nod. "Those boys outside. Every day she's beaten up I see them outside the school gates."**

**She nods and writes it down, standing. "Thank you and I hope you have a nice day."**

**I nod and walk for the nurses office, hopping to get a proper ice pack. Zero follows me, smiling and waving. "Hey, Kaede!"**

**I stop and wave back, waiting until Zero is next to me to walk in. I see Yaguri, Zero's teacher. I blink at the sight of him pointing a weapon at the nurse, a nurse I've known very well every visit. Zero gasps and runs in front, trying to get Yaguri away. I stare at a child behind her. I look at her face and register that she's a vampire. I gulp and start edging out until I see Yaguri's eye being clawed out. I gasp and back up into a wall, forcing my vectors out. I have to help. I rush them at the nurse and surprisingly, she _catches _one, flinging me against a wall. I grunt and fall to the cold floor, cursing myself for not seeing _that _coming. I fling them again and this time rip an arm off. She curses and charges at me, Yaguri shooting her in the back and causing her to scream. I slam her head into a wall, but she charges. I try to duck, but she sinks her fangs into my neck. I don't scream; I'm used to it. I knock her off and end up stretching a vein out to droop outside the skin. I stop, slamming into the floor due to blood loss. **

**Next thing I know, I'm in the hospital, Level drawing and holding a wrapped present addressed to me. I blink and look to my left to Yaguri. "Mind explaining what you did back there?" he asks, a bandage over his eye.**

**Level squeaks and starts hugging my waist. "Sis, you're awake!" She takes out her picture that she was making. "I made this for you!"**

**I gingerly take it with a vector, both of my arms being broken, and see it's a get well soon card with a before and after. I laugh a wheeze. "That's nice, Level. Uh, can I?" I point to him and she nods. I do my best to turn my head. "I'm not human, but not a vampire. I have vectors, they're-"**

"**Invisible arms, yeah, they use that term in Math," he sighs. "Well, your secret is safe with me."**

**The scene changes to Zero reading, Level tossing flower petals on the ground. "Kaede, Kaede, Kaede, Kaede."**

"**Level, Level, Level, Level," I swing my legs to be annoying. **

"**Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up," Zero turns the page.**

**All of us laugh, including Ichiru, but Zero just smirks slightly.**

**The scene flickers to a fair, Zero and I chasing one another with cotton candy in hand. We stop at a carousal; we're nine. I take Zero's wrist. "Zero, come on!"**

"**That's for girls!" he whines. **

"**You are one, you gender confused idiot!" I laugh. **

**That coaxed him to chase me long enough to not notice we're on the ride. "Darn it."**

"**Come on, it'll be fun!" He sighs and gets on a white horse, while I get on a tiger next to him. The ride starts up and we go up and down, the scene whizzing past us. I sigh and lean against the pole holding up the tiger. "I don't ever want to leave."**

"**Why?" Zero asks, looking confused.**

"**Because, this is so fun, you can just forget everything."**

"**Even your family," he mutters.**

**I shake my head. "Not if they're with me."**

**He smiles and nods. "I guess you're right."**

**I hear Level screaming and we turn to those boys I kept seeing chasing her. They had kept this up for a year, and I decided to end it. I unstrapped myself and ran off, Zero screaming at me to stop before I hurt myself. I jumped the gates and the ride stopped behind me, kids coming off to follow to see if I was alright. I pound my feet against the ground and soon catch up, leaping on a guy and ripping at his flesh. He roars and slams me into a wall, making me jump off before I'm dead. They surround me, forgetting completely about Level who refuses to leave and runs behind me. I sigh. Can't she have common sense? **

"**New meat!" they laugh, beating pipes and bats against their palms.**

**Screw it. I push them back with my vectors, seeing everyone is still running to catch up. "Stay away from _my _sister." I rip them apart and Level sighs, joining to buy us enough time to set it up. Level and I grab things with both types of arms, making it look like someone ran past with a gun or something. Once they come, we're wide eyed, not acting. We're worried that if they catch us…we won't see Mom or Dad again. Zero runs to the front and drags us away, chucking us in the girls' bathroom (following sadly) and starts cleaning our faces.**

"**Aren't you uncomfortable?" Level cocks her head to the side.**

"**Don't remind me," he groans, doing his best to avoid the glimpses of stalls.**

**I laugh and he sighs, smiling. I guess he likes it that I'm alright.**


	12. Level 12

"**Let me see it!" Ichiru begs Level.**

"**No, it's my scrapbook!" Level snaps, holding the red scrapbook close to her chest.**

"**Oh come on, it's not like it contains the secret to world domination!"**

**Zero walks by, whistling like it actually did. Level smacks his arm with the scrapbook. "Shut up, Zero! MOM, ARE YOU READY NOW?"**

"**Hold on!" Mom replies. "Your show isn't even on until three!"**

**It's two thirty. "There's dress rehearsal!"**

**Dad trudges in, tired yet smiling. "I'll take you earlier, okay?"**

**Level nods and we follow him out. That's when my memories speed through, images flying by. The doll, her performance, it all hurts my head, and I'm NOT enjoying it. It stops at me running home. I'm wiping furious tears out of my eyes, my twenty vectors inside. I roar and smash a brick wall apart. I run into my house, even though the door was locked, and relock it, running into the back after unlocking the back door, then shutting it securely, and then kneeling by the creek, crying. **

"**He doesn't get it…he won't get it!" I cry, slamming my fists into the ground. My cap feels like it is glue, and then the voice comes. **

"**_Why don't you tell him?_" I hear Level's voice ring. I guess she's my angel conscience. **

"**_No, kill him and in his last breath show him,_" the voice that changed everything between me and Kota rings. So I knew it before hand.**

"**NO! NO! NO! I WANT HIM TO LIVE! I WANT HIM TO-"**

"**_Torment you with his perfection?_" that devil mocks. **

"**SHUT UP!"**

"**K-Kaede?"**

**I turn abruptly to Zero, clutching the door. He looks sympathetic. "WHAT?" I snap, tears flowing. I didn't know I was this sentimental.**

**He sighs and slowly walks over. "Are you okay? I just asked how you did that stuff."**

**I blink and look down at the river, my eyes furious and my jaw set. "I've done it before. It's not my fault you don't care enough to F*CKING notice."**

**He turns me around. "Of course I care! I'm your friend Kaede! You got to trust me!"**

**I shake my head. "You'd just laugh, you'd just leave, there's a number of possibilities of what you'd do, Zero. It's better to just forget this."**

**He gaps and shakes my shoulders roughly. "FORGET THIS? ARE YOU F*CKING STUPID?" Jeez we had sailor's mouths. "WE'RE FRIENDS!"**

**I sigh and glare. "IF WE WERE, YOU WOULDN'T BE GONE ALL THE TIME!"**

**He raises a brow. "So I've been gone several weeks at a time, I have a family!"**

"**SO DO I, YET I'M HERE!"**

"**I'm not you!" he snaps. "If that's the problem, I wouldn't mind leaving!"**

**I turn and cross my arms. "GO AHEAD, SEE IF I CARE!"**

**I hear nothing. I try to keep my fury, but I soften. I stare sadly at the ground. Someone sets a hand on my shoulder. "I said if _that's _the problem."**

**I turn slightly to see Zero still standing there. "That's not the problem."**

"**Then what is it?"**

**I sigh and turn completely. "Promise?" He nods and I smile. "Okay." I take off the cap, his light smile fading quick. "What do you think Zero? I also have vectors." I take them out, knowing he can't see them. He hesitates. I can tell the mood change in his eyes, but in my past state I fail to notice because I'm hoping too much. He bites his lip, and then looks down. "Zero?"**

**He snaps his head up, completely different. "FREAK!"**

**I blink. "What?"**

"**YOU'RE A FREAK KAEDE!" **

**I gap, snarling. "I'm not a freak."**

"**FREAK!"**

"**I'm not!"**

"**You're right Kaede…VAMPIRE!"**

"**I'M NOT A VAMPIRE!"**

"**EXPLAIN THE HORNS!"**

"**VAMPIRES DON'T HAVE HORNS STUPID! I WAS BORN WITH THEM! CAN'T YOU TELL BY THE FACT I'M ALWAYS WEARING A CAP?"**

"**I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU KAEDE! I TRUSTED YOU! All these years… YOU WERE ONE OF THEM!"**

"**HOW AM I ANY DIFFERENT JUST BY MY HORNS?"**

"**IT'S AN OBVIOUS SIGN YOU'RE BAD!"**

"**NOT ALL VAMPIRES ARE BAD!"**

"**SO YOU ADMIT IT!"**

"**NO! I'M NOT AN F*CKING VAMPIRE!"**

"**Hey," Mrs. Kiryu who apparently reached my home comes out, "what's going on here?"**

**I pull my cap on, my vectors becoming more visible with my anger. "YOU JERK!"**

**I shove Zero in. He thrashes and I hold him under until Mrs. Kiryu goes in to help him. I release him and my parents and his dad come out, Level staring at me as she arrives. She turns to Zero and I notice he's slightly bleeding, so she covers up her throat. She turns to me and I immediately understand, especially with the explanation Level gave me earlier; she hasn't had her medication, or blood. Her eyes flicker and Mom sighs, pushing Level inside. Dad guides me inside, Mr. Kiryu staring at him in confusion. I hear Zero explaining to his mom what happened, but I feel tears come out. One second he's my friend, he promised, but then he lashed out. Dad pulls me into the bathroom in which Level is there, holding her throat and Mom sitting across on the floor. I sit next to Level, tears of fury coming out. Zero can just go and die! I shake my head and clutch it, the voice screaming for some reason. Level's eyes flicker and she wishes for something; peace. Dad locks the door to prevent the Kiryu family from entering and suddenly, my anger reaches its climax. I scream and my twenty vectors lashing out in random straight lines, Level's pain also making her do the same thing. I blacked out for a moment, and then stopped screaming, seeing the blood dripping off our vectors. Level is crying, blood trickling onto her face. She wanted peace, and this is what happened. I try to comprehend that Mom and Dad aren't here, so I return my vectors and next thing I know, once Level pulls hers back, the house crashes onto us. We slam into the ground and fight our way out of the rubble, running into the backyard to see and Mom and Dad, in their dead state. Level cries harder and someone shoots at us. We turn to see Mr. Kiryu, who never knew that Dad was a vampire. Mrs. Kiryu is blinking, Ichiru is crying, and Zero is glaring. With our vectors we pick them up and run as fast as we can, managing to dodge a few bullets. I look back once to mouth to Zero 'I'm sorry, but if you can't accept me, I might as well be dead'. **

**The scene goes to a few days later. We're out on the outskirts of a field, in front of two handmade tombstones with our Mom and Dad's info carved into them. We say prayers, give last conversations to dead people, and tell each other about the good parents they were. It's sad. Level silently cries, cursing herself for being the cause. She wasn't. I pat her back and that's when I hear a gun cock. I turn around and push Level away, seeing Zero for a brief second before FLASH! The bullet tears through my temple, making my body knock back with my arms in front, falling as if someone hit me in the stomach.**

"**SISTER!" she screams.**

**Ichiru comes to the front and I notice they're both crying as if they don't want this. "I'M SORRY!" Ichiru screams, Kimia in his hands and the power activated.**

**The scene flashes, and some doll ribbon Level had been holding flies up, covered in blood. Level digs into a third party's mind, making me realize this is Zero's memories. The scene continues with Zero dropping the gun and glaring up at the sky. "Ichiru, please tell me they're not dead."**

**Ichiru runs to check the pulses. "Barely, it's a miracle!"**

**Zero sighs and smiles slightly, facing my unconscious figure. "I hope they'll be okay."**

"**Well, you could've cooled down with the whole 'protecting her' thing."**

**Huh? _Don't ask me, this is my first time with this memory. _"What was I supposed to say Ichiru? 'Go away otherwise the Vampire Society might come and mistake you'? Have you forgotten how prideful she is?"**

**I feel like slapping him, but I can't now. "Should we?"**

"**Yeah, leave them with information, Ichiru. We're just making sure they're found."**

**They drag us in two different directions, meeting up in between our locations. "Why are we separating them, Zero?"**

"**So they can't get both at once," Zero reminds him. If that happens, we won't have more of a chance seeing them again.**

I blink to see Nyuu took charge, and she's just been staring at the ceiling. "Nyuu?" I think.

Nyuu sits up, crying apparently. "Zero sorry."

"I know that," I sigh, my actual talking not affecting her anymore.

"Nyuu…" she covers her eyes, wiping boiling water out of them. "Nyuu!"

"Calm down, they're just tears," I huff, crossing my arms.

She blinks and hugs our ribs. "Nyuu, nyuu, nyuu-nyuu."

"Yeah, I know she's not here," I sigh.

There's a knock at the door and Nyuu stands to answer it, but she has an IV for some weird reason. She blinks at it and yanks it, obviously not having common sense. Something crashes to the floor, causing the door to fling open. I hear a huff and Kaname comes to pick up a beige box, setting it on the stand and seating Nyuu on the bed. "You're not supposed to get up."

Nyuu blinks. "Nyuu?"

He sighs and pats my head. Something thumps at my back and Nyuu feels at that area, Kaname turning her around to look for himself. "Nothing's the-"

Something slams his into a cabinet, and shoots out of Nyuu's back. She screams, something I rarely hear her do, and we switch within the pain, me making myself clutch my head and widen my eyes, vectors adding up to a total of seventeen. I blink to get sense back and feel the big fresh hole sting and the vectors try to close it up. Kaname glares and pushes himself up, the door opening to Yuki. She blinks and sighs at the hole, probably understanding it was an accident. Zero walks in after her, not at all happy.

"Lucy?" he calls.

I turn. "Huh?"

"How are you feeling?" Yuki asks, feeling my forehead.

"Better," I lie, shrugging.

I blink at the ground. Level, are you still there? _Yeah, but there's something wrong wit-. _All I hear is the voices surrounding me falling into scrambles. My eyes are wide, I clutch my head, and I swear they're worrying. Level?_…_Level?_..._

"**SISTER!"**

I cringe and fall down on the bed, my head in a splitting fever. I look at the stand to see the medication gone. I look out the window to a twelve-year-old with purple hair. I raise a brow at first.

_She's my Grandma. What are you to Granny?_

Granny…I stand and run out, despite how much it hurts. So I can't pull out my vectors, it's _something_.

I keep running, look behind once, and when I turn, I collide with none other than a crimson jacket. I look up and gasp; it's Level 30.

"Level?" I ask.

She looks up, frozen. "Kaede?"

I nod and we hug each other for a brief moment before helping each other up. That's when Level turns around frantically. "Looking for something?"

"Someone actually," she gulps. "Twenty-nine's missing."

I blink. "You mean the girl with the purple hair?"

Level turns back to me. "Have you seen her?" I nod. "Where is she?"

I point behind me and she gulps. "What's wrong?"

"If she's near humans, they're probably dead."

I gasp and turn to none other than the missing, nothing murder related on her. "Hi Granny!"

I turn to Level. "Is she…"

"Twenty-five's offspring, yes," Level sighs.

"I still don't get why the…never mind."

"Look, the egg is in the back," she points to an area next to her spine. "What happens is that the vectors take them out because look." She made her arm go through the nearest oak tree, and it wasn't a vector. Ouch.

"Granny, who's she?" Twenty-nine asking, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"This is my sister," she informs.

Twenty-nine's eye twitches. "Ah…"

I look up to see people beginning to walk this way. "Uh, I was thinking of spending Christmas at my home, if you don't mind."

"It's okay, but can I come?" she asks.

"I'll call; just keep checking in okay, Level?"

She smiles and hugs me. "I missed you Kaede."

I sigh. "Call me Lucy, that name is just something that reminds me of Mom."

"And unoriginal."

"Shut up," I chuckle, patting her arm.

I walk back to the building to at least get my phone, since I think I saw it on one of the shelves. I stare at the ground, thinking of anything in my past that seems out of context. Why was Zero acting weird earlier with that whole disgusting vectors thing? Well, it's not like we never fought I guess. I stop when I see a book. The Tale of Despereaux, what is it doing here? I pick it up and I accidentally get a paper cut. Strange...My head starts to pound, and I crutch down to hold my head in my state of pain.

"**Mama, who she?" I ask.**

**This isn't me, but I'm this person. She has white hair, and she's two. "She's your mom, His."**

**Her mom is what I can fairly assume to be Level 23. I take out a vector myself, but it's only the one, and it is one yard long. "Look Mama, it is showing!"**

**All goes black.**

…

"**Mother, where's Aspasia?" a five-year-old, that I'm seeing the eyes out of asks. This one has two vectors of two yard range. These visions are what happened to the other Levels. Aspasia, a cat, crawls out limping. The door blows open and the men from the facility enter. She runs in front of a crib containing a newborn. "I won't let you near Nana!"**

**She gets shot to death. **

…

**Three kids are lined up to be shot; triplets. They are all the age of ten. One has three vectors with three yard range, one has five with five yard ranges, and the other has ten. "FIRE!"**

…

"**I'm scared!" a red head girl with four vectors and six cries to her older sister.**

"**I know, but we have to brave it," Level 14 comforts. **

**Level 15 comes in. "Knock, knock."**

**She cackles, and I'm Level 14. She's clear-headed and focused, but it's just the fact of more vectors. **

…

**Level 13 is crazy, and Levels 6 and 7 try to stop her, but she's bouncing all over. 6 and 7 are twins, only nine. **

…

**Level 13 is still on the loose after thirteen months. Level 8 comes along as a distraction, but Level 12 stops 13 too late.**

…

**Level 9 and 11 are walking when Level 29 comes up. These two are the grand-children of 25, but they have a one year difference. 29 doesn't like competition. She wants to be the only loved one for the Princess and the Queen.**

"**Nighty Night, dear children."**

…

**Level 12 is complaining about how 29 is out of control, how she's probably the reason for 9 and 11's deaths. Level 26 doesn't want to hear it, so she gets rid of the weak.**

…

I breakdown on the floor, panting and hugging my ribs. All of them were good, mere innocents. Some didn't fight, but they were killed for mere power. I growl. If that's how it works, then I'm going to take out all the bad ones, save Level 30 some trouble maybe. But, might as well spend a last day. I push myself up and run for the infirmary, finding it clear and I slip in to grab my phone.

"Hello," Yuka smiles, "who's this?"

"Yuka, I'm Lucy."

"Lucy! How are you?"

"You haven't been gone for _that _long Yuka."

"Hey, Yuka, can I talk to her?" I hear Kota in the background.

"Sure, Lucy, Kota wants to talk to you."

She hands him the phone. "Hey Lucy, how are you?"

"Eh," I shrug. "It's school, it can always be better."

He chuckles. "Hey, listen, are you coming home for the holidays or is there some policy that you can't?"

"I'm going home, but can I invite some people?"

"Depends, who are they?"

"Well," I sit on the bed, the crunching of the springs probably audible from the other end, "remember how I knew nothing before I was eleven?"

"Right."

"Well, there are several people who knew me then."

"Really? That's great!"

"Yeah…" I falter. "Um, so I was wondering if that's okay?"

"Sure, anyone else?"

"Well, there's this one girl who I didn't know, but Yuka seems to like her."

"Yuki I guess? She's been talking about her to Mayu and Nana up and down."

I chuckle, in which the mention of Nana brings me to a stop. "Hey, can I talk to Nana for a bit?"

"Sure. NANA! LUCY WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!"

I hear the phone pass. "Hello?"

"Hey Nana."

"Oh hi Lucy, how's the school life?"

"Hard, I'm in the infirmary for the…fourth or third time."

"Jeez, can't you behave?"

I roll my eyes. "Anyways, I learned a little about your past."

She stops. "What about it…?"

"You had a sister," I state.

"Is she alive?"

"No. She died trying to protect you. You also had a cat called Aspasia."

She's silent. "Thanks."

She hangs up. I sit here, clutching my phone. All of them died, because of power. After I spend my most likely last Christmas here, and somehow say goodbyes, I will give them justice, with Level 30's permission along with 25's of course. I can't just be like I was and kill them off, like I did with Kota…like I killed those boys because I was angry, even though they deserved it. _Be the better person_, my dad told me. I will.


	13. Level 13

_**A.N: NONE OF THE 'FACTS' ARE REAL!**_

"**Mommy, where Ichiru?" five-year-old Level tugs on Mom's coat.**

**Mom smiles down at her. "He's home, but you're going to be seeing him soon."**

**Level cheers, I just remain silent. Mom's going to kill a Level E again. The doorbell rings and Dad says he'll answer it. He walks up and then there's a gunshot. Level and I gasp, running. Mom is trying to get us to stop, but they are our parents, we don't want them to die. Dad backs up into a wall, hands raised and a stupid guy pointing the gun at his forehead. Dad's bleeding in his right shoulder, but it doesn't look like it hurts.**

"**Give me all your valuables!" the D*CK commands. **

**I snarl, "Stay away from my Dad."**

**He turns and laughs. "Oh really, what is a pip squeak like you going to d-"**

**He has twenty large holes in his body. He falls down limp, and Level hugs Dad. She holds her nose and stares down at the body. Blood drips from my slightly visible vectors, so I walk into the kitchen to wash it off. Mom helps, and she isn't afraid, but she's not so proud either.**

"**Kaede, I know you want to help, but that was a human," she sighs. **

"**Yeah, with a gun to Dad's head."**

"**It wouldn't do anything," Mom reminds me.**

**I turn slightly. "If Dad reacted, people would know he's a vampire! A Level B to be exact!"**

**Mom smiles, "Kaede, I know that, but it doesn't mean I'm not here."**

**I blink, "Mom, I don't want you to go to the bad house."**

**Remember, I'm five here. Mom nods and I hug her knees, my vectors still dripping blood. The doorbell rings, and Level, knowing the scent, opens it to the Kiryu's. She tackles Ichiru practically and Zero walks in slightly to see me, the vectors in my back but my shirt soaked just because. **

"**Hey, Kaede," he waves. "Dad's going somewhere, so Mom's watching all four of us."**

**It's sad he doesn't know his Dad is off hunting vampires.**

…

"**FREAK!" **

…

"**You want to see that girl?" the woman asks, the woman who is the nurse in the orphanage.**

**The door opens and two silver haired boys enter. I don't know it at the time, but these two are Zero and Ichiru. I weakly look up at them, my fever practically murdering me. Zero sits next to me and rests a hand on my forehead, smiling kindly. "Hello," he greets. "How are you?" I don't understand it, but I shrug under the covers. Ichiru is standing next to the door, looking somewhat guilty. Zero pats my head in between my horns and looks around. "People don't like you here, do they?" I shake my head. "That's too bad, because you are a really good person."**

**I blink, but I shrug again. He sets a picture on the night stand and leaves, waving back to me. I smile inside. Someone knew me, and before I knew myself. I struggle for the picture and pick it up; it's the two boys, and my thumb is outstretched out to them. It's a friendly reminder, that I'm not alone.**

…

**The next day I'm admiring the picture, still unable to frown at the sight of the boys trying to push the other into a pool. They're nine of what I can tell. I just sit where I am, staring at it with a big grin. It's just too silly! That's when I freeze at a voice.**

"**Hey, freak, what's that?"**

**I turn to those three boys, my picture in the easiest means of a bad future. I jump up from the chair and run past, too fast for them to get a good hold of something. I can't let them destroy this, this is my only means of security! I slip on the floor and the picture goes flying. I stand to catch it, but one of the boys grabs it and I'm stuck in chasing them to get it back. At one point I slip on a water puddle caused by one of those jerks dumping the contents of their water bottle all over. The back of my skirt is soaked, and the picture is out of my reach. Suddenly, a pale hand snatches it and another punches him across the face. The two boys come out from behind the wall, offering me the picture. I smile and accept it, the one with the longer hair helping me stand. The three jerks tackle him, and the other tries to help his twin. I growl and heave one off, and then it gets uglier and uglier. Soon, one is unconscious. **

**Several of the women in charge come over to break it up, and the boys' parents come to pick him up. I didn't see him for the rest of my stay in the orphanage, probably because their parents were worried their sons would land in the ER from those jerks. **

…

**I'm only observing, since I'm not in this memory. It's Zero's, but I'm still just observing. Zero is wet from a previous shower, and there's a towel around his shoulders, but no shirt. He's sixteen by the looks of it, so this is three years ago. He sits on the floor, his back against the side of his bed in his dorm. He's staring up at nothing, and then he shuts his eyes and smiles. **

"**All that time I called her a freak…and I shortly became one…" he brings his knees to his face and hugs his legs, tears soaking his pants. "It's not fair…it wasn't fair that I called her that because of my F*CKING theory…I didn't listen…"**

…

**I'm on the run with my friend, the one that sacrificed herself. We're hiding in a shed, and someone knocks on the door. We cover our mouths and try to be absolutely silent, but it opens to a boy, a silver-haired boy with a sad expression; Zero. He's familiar, so I stand and let my four vectors slip out, that shot to the head having hidden my other sixteen. He blinks and cocks his head. "What's your name?" I refuse to answer, so he scowls. "I'm Zero, and it's not a good idea to hide here."**

**My friend stands. "What do you mean?"**

"**I mean there's a better spot," he points further into the trees. **

"**Yeah right," I mutter.**

**He turns to me. "Look, I'm not going to ask why you're running, but a friend of mine was on the run and she died, so I'm just trying to prevent another incident!"**

**He storms towards the place, and my friend and I exchange glances. We follow him and sure enough, it was secure for two weeks until we decided to move again. Before we left, I snaked through the trees to discover we were at a school, and that meant I'd have to wait a certain amount of time. I sat up in a tree and someone kicked it, so I looked down to the guy. **

"**What are you doing?" he asks.**

**I jump down. "We're leaving, so I thought it'd be at least polite to thank you for letting us have food and shelter for the past two weeks."**

**He blinks and looks up at the sky; it's twilight. "You should get going if you don't want to get caught. There's a Night Class and it starts now."**

**I nod and he leads me and my friend out of the grounds safely. I raise a quick brow and take out the picture; he looks just like the nine-year-old in there, except the nine-year-old doesn't have a black tattoo on the left side of his neck.**

…

I open my eyes to find myself in my dorm. Jeez, why didn't I remember? I was here before! I hid here! I groan and slap my forehead, sitting up and throwing off the covers. I see Yuka left me a laptop with a tiny note, so I pick it up.

Chat room, remember?-Yuka!

I blink and sit down on the floor, opening up the thing and logging in. Might as well see what's going on.

Imaginaryhead1985: Logged on.

FAGGOTRADER553: Hi! How are you?

Imaginaryhead1985: Eh, could be worse, could be better. Is Kota'sGF4EVER on?

Kota'sGF4EVER: Present!

ScrewedDuo21: Logged on

Imaginaryhead1985: Hey

ScrewedDuo21: Hey

FAGGOTRADER553: HELLO!

There's a bit of silence. ScrewedDuo21: I guess _someone _had coffee this morning

Kota'sGF4EVER: More like eye medication

FAGGOTRADER553: Hey :( I just had the caps on

Imaginaryhead1985: what about the exclamation point?

FAGGOTRADDER553: hello! There, are you happy ppl?

I chuckle. Imaginaryhead1985: very

ChickMagnet47: Logged on.

Imaginaryhead1985: shoot me now

ChickMagnet47: Nice to see you to Lucy

Imaginaryhead1985: SH! It is Imaginaryhead1985 u D*CK

I can just tell Zero's laughing. ScrewedDuo21: Nice

Of course Aido didn't take a liking to that comment. ChickMagnet47: Oh yeah? At least I'm not gradually dropping to a Level-

That's when he's cut off by someone logging on…a KKWHTEV7? KKWHTEV7: Aido.

ChickMagnet47 is silenced. BreakingBenWith8Angels: Logged on

ScrewedDuo21: Hey, BBW8A

I click on BBW8A's highlighted name and slightly gap. It's the same picture Ichiru and Zero gave me in the orphanage. I guess that solves who this person is, but I read the answers anyways.

**What's your favorite band?**

_Breaking Benjamin_

**Are you single?**

**How social are you?**

_1-10? 5_

**Do people fear you?**

_Only because of my twin _(I chuckle at that)

**Do you ask questions a lot?**

_No._

**Who's the most reliable friend you have?**

_A girl named Kaede_

I blink, my hand freezing over the cursor. I scroll down, shaking the thoughts out of my head.

**What genre is your favorite?**

_I don't know…mystery?_

**Let's test your knowledge **(I swear these people are stalkers). **When's the only time you can add two to eleven and get one as a correct answer?**

_Easy, if you're stupid._

I sigh. I look at a clock and raise a brow. The answer, as recently discovered, is a clock.

**Are you religious?**

_Not really, but I still believe in my faith_

**Siblings?**

_One twin, jeez…can't you read the previous answers?_

I 'X' out and gap at how much they've been talking, not being much of a talker as well. Everything is coming in rapid fire, even though some are lengthy.

ScrewedDuo21: I DON'T GIVE A SH-

Kota'sGF4EVER: ZERO!

KKWHTEV7: I suggest you don't finish that, Kiryu

I gulp and my fingers fly across the keyboard. What? Just because I was a killer once doesn't mean I have to continue to be! Imaginaryhead1985: Yuka, how's the Christmas plans coming along?

Kota'sGF4EVER: Oh yeah! Kota did mention about you wanting to invite some of these guys

Emo-Deliro84: Logged on

Emo-Deliro84: *smacks Imaginaryhead1985*

I glare at the screen. Imaginaryhead1985: *guns Emo-Deliro84 down*

FAGGOTRADER553: LOL!

KKWHTEV7: caps Yuki

FAGGOTRADER553: Darn it

Emo-Deliro84: *dodges all the bullets*

Imaginaryhead1985: *forces to listen to Miley Cyrus*

Emo-Deliro84: -_- That's cold

I smirk. Imaginaryhead1985: That's just who I-

Emo-Deliro84: *JUSTIN BIEBER BRIGADE*

ScrewedDuo21: knock it off, Level, Lucy

I gap. Level's on this? Holy SH*T! That's…great or good? I shake my head. SmexyFlexy8: Logged on

Imaginaryhead1985: who are you? Cass?

SmexyFlexy8: Yep

I sigh. What is wrong with these two? Well, I shouldn't really be talking. Imaginaryhead1985: Who's next? 15?

ToOl5: Logged on

ToOl5: Hello all in one, I'm back! *.*

SmexyFlexy8: Nice to see you Ichijo

Okay…that reader guy in the Night Class? I peek at the clock face again and gulp. It's already work time! Imaginaryhead1985: Disciplinary Committee, time for F*CKING duty. Yay…

ScrewedDuo21: Yuki, tell me again why we have to go through this?

FAGGOTRADER553: It's our duty, and you're NOT slacking!

Imaginaryhead1985: Guys, I need to talk to you outside, well, _want _to at least. Yuka, if you c Ichiru, talk to him K?

Kota'sGF4EVER: K!

I log off and slam the laptop closed, rushing out the window. The worst part is I didn't even shut it. I land on…fourteen vectors? I shrug and lower myself, running forward before someone slams a vector into me. I blink aimlessly and shake my head, seeing my weight knocked a tree down (not fat, just nineteen and tall). I push up, untangling the roots around my calf and see something with twenty-three _long _vectors, fangs the size of Tinker Bell, and red glowing eyes, their face stretched into some weird rabid expression. I raise a brow, not extremely alarmed. I must admit it's scary to see the multiple vectors far past my own, but eh, what can a Diclonius do? I squint to see black hair. I recognize this chick…she's the one who executed Level 1, the weakest, yet probably born to be the most kindest, gathering, Level born, unless they come out with a Level .5 something. They strike again and I dodge, making sure to skip trees. I feel in my pockets and grip something. Ribbon? I take it out and see it's Kimia's ribbon. I see it's stiff and straight, so I throw it and it goes _through _the B*TCH'S _skull_. I mean jeez, ribbon that dangerous if you make it that stiff? I blink and Level runs up behind me, panting and clutching her knees like she just ran a marathon.

"Where were you?" I chuckle.

She glares up, definitely more sophisticated than her earlier years. "The compound, which is a frigging long ways from here!"

I turn to Level 23, now limp and dead, the flesh turning into ash. "What's with her?"

Level stands up straight, brushing some dirt off her jacket and a small black backpack on her back with a black widow painted on it. "Wild vampire Level," she states. "Levels have stages, or what we call Level's to be total as*Es."

I roll my eyes. "So, what are these 'levels'?"

"Level one is the beginning stage, in which you're perfectly fine and normal, just like a regular human save the vectors." I shrug, understanding the statement. "Level two is when they start to get thirsty, so they stay away from everyone. Level three is the intermediate stage, when the vectors shoot out at random."

"Like when Mom and Dad died…" I whisper.

She nods. "Since we're twins, you got some of Level traits, either that or I got Diclonius traits. Both of us had our vectors shoot out at random, but that hasn't happened for any other Diclonius. Why is that?"

I think about it. "I'm the Queen."

She nods. "Level four is when the eyes change to red temporarily. Level five is when they get violent and do things on their own accord. Level six is that last stage where they completely freak out and do…that." She points to the corpse, now dissolving. "Of course, all of us dissolve in death."

I sit against a tree, Level going on the opposite side of the same tree and sitting against it just the same, one knee up, the other side on the ground, and the right platform resting on the right knee, hanging up. "So, you're saying that one of us is the real Queen? That one of us made Levels by being them or Diclonius?"

"Well, yeah, that's the point, Lucy. If you think about it, it might be me, since I'm the only half-vamp, but it could be you, because…where would I get my vectors?"

"Well, where did I get my horns?" I sigh.

She snaps her fingers and passes Kimia to me, so I hold the doll as she speaks, the eyes twinkling up at me. "I did a heck of a lot of research and I found out not all our blood is vampire, Diclonius, Level, and human."

"What then?"

She passes another object to me…a horn? It looks like one of mine, but it's different somehow… "That's a dragon horn."

I blink. "Huh?"

"A lot of research, you go to the people who know stuff."

"Well, I know that, but a dragon? Are you saying some dragon F*CKED a human?"

"Shape-shifter," she corrects, and basically."

I shake my head. "I REALLY, REALLY need to switch to caffeinated."

"What's that, like, your fifth time saying that?"

I chuckle. "You're the one saying we have shape-shifter and dragon in our blood."

"Well, it's odd how we ended up this way, but it turns out there was a boy in every Jima generation. The more humans, the more human we got. Soon, dragons became extinct and we started to tone down to just vampires."

I blink. "Shape-shifting is how Dad survived the water dunk!"

"Yep, and that's how we have vectors," she informs. "Our bodies made them for protection, maybe killing depending on the person."

"But every Diclonius-"

"-_Thinks _they're violent. Think about it Lu, you were tortured, so of course you'd be violent. They kill because they're scared."

Come to think about it, not knowing who I was in truth did scare me a lot before. Death is what triggered it, not fear. "Or someone's death."

"Fear that they're going to be next or that they won't be forgiven if not avenged," she huffs, obviously primping (twins know each other).

"Okay, so let's just say it _is _fear, why would they keep doing it?"

"It's that _depending _thing I was talking about, they chose to."

I sigh and look down, crossing my arms. Jeez, so I'm some dragon-shape-shifter-vampire-human who chose the wrong thing. Great, that's the thing I needed to hear. Of course, what part of me is a vampire? I hand Level back Kimia and the horn. "So, how am I a vampire just to ask?"

"Vectors are resistant," she shrugs. "Plus, you can actually change the vibrations once you get it down."

I turn around. "Really?"

"Yeah, but the length stays the same unless you can find some way to stretch them."

I smack her arm. "So, that's it?"

"You're pale and have red-pink eyes," she laughs, making me whack her upside the head.

I stand and she follows as I walk off. She hands me paper and I take out the pencil, scribbling down something.

**TARGET **

_**Level 15**_

_**Level 16**_

_**Level 17**_

_**Level 18**_

_**Level 19**_

_**Level 20**_

_**Level 21**_

_**Level 22**_

***DECEASED***

_**Level 24**_

_**Level 26**_

_**Level 27**_

_**Level 28**_

_**Level 29**_

I hand it over to Level and she scribbles and jots things down, handing it back to me after a bit.

**TARGETS**

_**15 LEVEL: 4**_

_**17 LEVEL: 5**_

_**18 LEVEL: 6 and MIA**_

_**19 LEVEL: 5**_

_**21 LEVEL: 3**_

_**22 LEVEL: 6 and MIA**_

_**24 LEVEL: 6 and in custody**_

_**26 LEVEL: 3**_

_**27 LEVEL: 6 and MIA**_

_**28 LEVEL: 5 and in custody**_

_**29 LEVEL: 3 and INSANE**_

I roll my eyes and snatch it. "Why are you saving sixteen and twenty?"

"They're not lashers," she shrugs. "They're perfectly Level 2, in which every Level reaches at some point or another."

I sigh and clutch the list. Twelve targets, and a Christmas before that. Gee, why am I waiting when there's a perfect amount of time for CR*P to go wrong?


	14. Level 14

I yawn as Mayu and Nana hang up the Christmas decorations. Nana glares at me, just like usual. "You could _help _you know!"

"Yeah, but I don't care for Christmas," I huff.

Mayu drops on her butt. "What? How could you not care for Christmas?"

"She must be related to Mr. Scrooge," Nana mumbles.

I shrug, "Does it matter? It's a Christian holiday anyways, and I don't think I was _ever _Christian."

"What? Did your precious Zero not tell you that?" Nana snaps.

I break the ladder under her feet with my vectors, most of which now visible to the naked eye. I jab a finger at her direction, glaring with a cold gaze. "Don't you _dare _talk about Zero like that!"

"Who?" Mayu asks.

I sigh and straighten. "He's a classmate who knew me in my early years."

"Oh, is he one of those coming at Christmas?" I nod. "Well, I bet he's nice."

"Looks a lot like a she to me…" Nana whispers to herself, or at least she thinks she does.

I slam her into the old ticking clock, making the clock shift and a stand to wobble, a flower pot on it wobbling and toppling over. Kota and Yuka rush in, Yuka helping Nana up and Kota spreading his arms in disbelief. "Why did you push Nana?" he groans.

I cross my arms and look down. Jeez, to think a guy would at least think she did something wrong. Mayu, thankfully, also thinks Nana took it too far. "Nana was going over-board with insulting."

"You can't go over-board with insulting!" Nana snaps.

"Yeah, you can Nana," Yuka informs. "You probably hit a sore spot."

"I didn't hit anybody!" Nana shrieks.

"We didn't…ugh, it's a phrase Nana," Kota specifies.

I tug at the sleeve of the thin, long-sleeved, light blue shirt buttoned up with what I could compare to pearly sapphires I guess. There is a collar, folded down, but it has a wavy trim, making me feel like I was going to some fancy party or something. Although, that's a mere exception to my outfit. I have my school skirt on, which sort of peeves me off, but since I'm wearing black and sky-blue striped knee high stockings and black Mary Jane shoes with blue roses painted on, I have to admit, it makes a cute outfit. What? Just because I'm a nineteen-year-old Queen of Diclonius doesn't mean I can't have an opinion of what's _cute_? Jeez, I think puppies are _cute _yet nobody says anything (do and you WILL die, I promise that much to you)! Pearl ribbons are tied firmly around my horns, still moist with the fact they FINALLY healed (there is a God).

I walk up to my room, now upstairs apparently, and shut the slide, seeing this is an old traditional Japanese restaurant. I sit on my knees at the side of the bed and dig under for the album Cass gave me (twenty-five). I flip over past the page with the creative collage of Ichiru's, Zero's, Level's, and my heads together to form one, which I have to admit it's cool. There's a picture of Level and I bathing together, which makes me instantly turn to the next. It's a picture of all four of us stuffing our faces with…is that _rice balls_? Jeez no wonder where my love of rice balls came from. Level, of course, is in the middle of spreading the rice all over Ichiru's face much like a custard cream pie in a circus. I roll my eyes and turn to another page with Level dancing, Kimia in hand. The other is Kimia herself, well, a collage of her. There's one in a blue ruffled dress going down to the knees, the black dress she apparently wears often, a new looking one with Kimia leaning against the tree we found the box in front of, which does prove that she found it first, and several ones with her pale face covered in dirt, a safari costume fitted around the figure and a tiny adventure's hat.

Then, there's the one of her dressed like a Renaissance princess, so I turn the page. Is she obsessed with that doll or something? I don't blame her, but it looks like she carries it around everywhere! Again, I shouldn't blame her because Mom and Dad gave that to her. This picture is of Mom and Dad, but this is probably something she picked up, since I doubt she was living when Mom and Dad were on their _first date_. I can tell you right now it did _not _go well. How do I know? Dad has his face in a trash can and Mom is covering up her skirts, blood coming onto her hands. Yeah, it had to be _that _time of the month then huh? The next page is a wedding photo, Dad holding Mom with his left arm wrapped round her waist, pulling her so close it makes me curious where his other hand is. I decide not to ask anyone when I see Mom's eye twitching in mid-shot, her hand blurring as it rises behind his head. Man, were they weird. I turn again to a snapshot of some Christmas tree…wait...is this in my old house?

"**NO! NO! NO!"**

"**Come on Oscar!" Mom pulls out her lower lip, throwing in the puppy eyes while carrying a elf hat in her hands.**

**He shakes his head and I notice his hands are over his hair. "NO WAY JANET!" **

**Level giggles and presses some button on her reindeer antlers to make the lights flash. Thankfully, I just have a Santa hat. Mom, for one, isn't wearing anything. "It's just for the family picture!"**

"**NO!"**

"**Oscar!"**

"**LA, LA, LA, NOT LISTENING!" I guess you can tell where his fingers are.**

**Mom puts her hands on her hips. "Stop being so naïve and GROW UP!"**

"**You're the ones acting like kids," I mutter, since I'm eight. **

"**Oh come on!" Mom spreads her arms in disbelief. "Isn't anyone going to help me with this?"**

**We shake our head and she sighs, grabbing something out of a holster and aiming it at Dad, in which we see it's a Bloody Rose. He glares. "You. Wouldn't. Dare."**

"**Try me," Mom rolls her eyes. "Now put on the elf hat!"**

**Do you know how psychotic the situation is? "Jeez, what's wrong with _my _idea of a Christmas picture?"**

"**Not everyone likes trains," she mutters.**

**My past self remembers her parents were killed by vampires on a train…we were two when her mom died, her dad died when she was ten, same basic thing, so she had this funky idea that a vampire was after them. Dad sighs. "Look, it's a KID train, not a full-ledged train like they died o-"**

**A shot rings in the house and someone bursts through the door. I blink as Mom runs out the back and the Kiryu family comes in, blinking at the huge hole Mom's special vampire bullets caused to look like a real bullet in case this thing happened. Zero comes over and sits to my right, leaving clearance for Ichiru to get in between Level and I. Zero has an elf hat on, so when I poke the ears, he stuffs the fluffy ball on my hat in my mouth. **

Huh, that could _also _explain why I hate Christmas. I flip it again to see a smaller Level, maybe six, hugging my neck from behind and smiling, Ichiru hugging Zero's shoulders and smiling as well, Zero and I not looking too happy that we were living monkey bars. I shut the book and shove it under the bed, standing and dusting the skirt out of a habit Yuki got me in. I step out of the room, shutting the slides quietly, and sneak down the stairs to find the music box sitting on a stool across the hall. I pick it up and open it, the tune poisoning my systems and forcing me to drop it and clutch my head.

"**Uh, what goes in a funeral?" ten-year-old Level wonders.**

"**Some solemn song," I count them off on my fingers starting with the right pinkie, "good things about each, moment of silence, pray, and I think you talk to them."**

**We nod Level stands up next to the stones. "Mommy and Daddy were the best parents, they tried their best to raise their children right, didn't abuse them, played with them, they were friendly spirits who liked Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, as weird as that is, and they didn't skip a single joke. Overall, Mommy and Daddy were free-spirited goofballs that took consideration for everyone."**

**She steps behind me and I go up, silently cursing her for taking the words out of my mouth. "Mommy and Daddy…they understood us, they cared enough to listen. They didn't give up on anything, and protected humans against Level E's for a long while. As much as they would try and trigger the other's anger at times, they forgave each other because they loved one another, and the fact they didn't want rioting children. Mommy and Daddy, they accepted us, even though Level and I are different. They helped us with everything, and they helped the needy, a LOT."**

**I step back and we pray, then give a moment of silence, and talk to them for a short few. "Mommy, Daddy," I hear Level whisper. "We want to sing you a song."**

**She stands and hands me a paper with LILIUM on it. I nod, knowing the song well, and step next to Mom's stone on the left, huffing and singing with 'oh's. We were crying most of the time, but we wanted Mom and Dad to know we loved them, and we continued the beautiful song. I heard the grass rustle and gasped, pushing Level out of the way and a bullet cut through my temple.**

"**SISTER!"**

**_FLASH! _The ribbon soars.**

I open my eyes to find Kota shaking my shoulders like a maniac. I blink and double-check who's under control…it's not me, that's for sure. "Nyuu?"

I sigh and sit back, thinking inside my own brain's brain that we need to start having schedules or something. "Nyuu," Yuka blinks, "is Lucy in there?"

Nyuu drops to her knees, her calves folding out slightly behind, and her left arm goes down limp, the other knocking at her head. Someone knocks at the door and Nyuu turns, her confused expression rather blank if you ask me. Nana walks over and pulls the handle to reveal Zero, hours early apparently. "Hello, is Lucy here?"

"NYUU!" Nyuu nearly tackles his waist.

"I guess that's a yes?" he blinks down at me.

Yuka waves. "Hey Zero!"

"Hey Yuka, um…get her off please?"

Yuka giggles with Mayu and the two try to pry Nyuu and I off. Honestly, Nyuu _and _I don't want to get off. Zero looks up at Kota and Kota nods, apparently that being permitting Zero to take out that same old bent tray and smack my head hard with it. I fall off and Nyuu rubs her head, slightly fading, but not quite enough to release me. She sits on her knees and gleams up at Zero.

"ZE-Ra!" Nyuu cheers, trying her hand again at English.

Nana smuggles a laugh, making Nyuu whimper. Zero sighs and pats my head, so Nyuu turns to me, in which, knowing full well that talking might make her go bonkers as well as me, I think my reply. "It's Z-E-R-O, Nyuu."

She nods, making the outside slightly confused, and she laughs up at Zero. "Z-E-Ro!"

He smiles and kneels in front of us, patting our heads, or head, and he drags me up to my own feet. Ichiru comes along, staring at my wide, sparkling eyes. "Jeez, did she hit her head or something?"

"Hey Ichiru," Yuka waves. "Hey, can you two help me with something?"

They nod and I sit down against the clock, looking up as the second hand ticks and the…bronze circle that sways left and right on some pole attached to said clock sways, like mentioned. I admire it and poke at the glass, Kota sighing and walking off to help Mayu with the outside decorations, Nana decorating a potted plant next to the entrance. I sniff the air at something familiar and my chest clutches, making Nyuu yelp and clutch her head, standing to her knees buckling.

"N…NYUU!" she cries.

Don't think I'm not included in this pain. I wince inside and Nyuu runs up the stairs, Nana following in pursuit. She rushes through the slides and locks them tight, sort of surprising me she knew how to do that. I remind myself of 'NYUU' being my first word and shrug. Maybe I knew how to lock stuff as a one-year-old. She rushes to the window and looks out, an old woman climbing the steps. She looks familiar…Nyuu rushes to a storage chest I keep and snatches out a letter opener I kept, hoping Nyuu wouldn't find it. Oh great this isn't going to be pretty. Instead of jumping out the window and attacking the woman as expected, she carves something into the floor in hopes I'd understand. Well, you need to know how to read in order to speak and read and speak in order to write.

'GANY LIE'

"Who's GANY?" I ask.

She screams and throws the letter opener into the chest, bawling. What did I say? "GANY! GANY!"

"What are you saying? Gay?" She shakes her head and continues bawling. "Uh…many?"

"NYUU!"

"WHAT THEN?"

"ME A MELATIVE!"

Huh? I have to guess 'ME' is 'SHE', since we're talking about the old woman I suppose. I run through my vocabulary for words that rhyme with this 'MELATIVE' and gasp. "Are you saying 'Granny alive'?"

She nods.

…

So, after talking a bit how she should've just stayed quiet and should be careful next time about letter openers, she lets me out for a second to unlock the door, since she couldn't get it right that you need to twist it to the right. She comes back out and trails a hand along the wall, clutching the stair rail with both hands and crawling down, as if she was taking her first steps. She touches the bottom and looks around. Someone knocks on the door and she walks over to answer it, coming out with Yuki and Kaname. Great, she had to bring him along. Oh well…

"Hello Lucy," Yuki smiles.

"Nyuu," Nyuu corrects.

She nods, laughing nervously. "Yeah, sorry about that Nyuu."

Kaname bows his head and Nyuu bows her head as well, at least knowing how to look down. Yuki takes Nyuu's wrist and drags Nyuu and me in further, since Nyuu can't navigate well, right Nyuu? _NYUU! _That's her way of saying 'yeah, where's the rice balls'. We walk into the kitchen and Yuka rushes over, hugging Nyuu tightly around the neck, Yuki confused just as well as me. The suffocation gets to my head and I blink a lot, my eyes narrowing into a glare directed at her.

"Get…off…ME!" I grunt, gasping for air most of the time.

Yuka let's go. "Why did you scream earlier?"

"_I _didn't scream," I correct. "_Nyuu _screamed, and she's like that!"

Okay, I'm not telling them about that heart ache, okay? Tell them, and I swear you're dead. That's when I notice 'Granny' sitting at the table. Yuka catches my stare. "Oh, this is Mrs. Jima."

I gulp and wave shortly. "H-h-hey…how's it going Mrs. Jima?"

She sighs. "Don't try to play games with me, young lady."

I sigh and hang my head. "Yeah, yeah…"

Yuka and Yuki raise brows. "Do you know her?"

Zero enters from somewhere and Ichiru drops a pot, gaping. "MRS. JIMA?"

"Hello boys," she smiles.

Ichiru passes out, making Zero stare down at him. Yuka and Yuki cross their arms and Kota enters, also staring down at Ichiru. "Uh…"

I gulp and direct a hand at Mrs. Jima. "This is…uh…jeez…"

"Are you ashamed?" Granny asks.

I shake my head. "Well, to be honest, I haven't seen you for years on end so…"

She nods. "You can say it."

I gulp and turn to Yuka and Yuki, Kaname staring back and down at Ichiru as well. "This is…uh…um…how do I put this without giving you a heart attack? Oh yeah, _my grandma._" Two thick thuds ring throughout the kitchen and Mayu enters with Nana, both of which joining me in staring at the two unconscious teens in front of me. I turn to Granny. "I blame you."

She chuckles. "Well, you said it."

"Yeah, because you wouldn't."

Someone knocks at the door and I groan, stomping past the two chicks and maneuvering around Ichiru, sulking to the door and opening it to Level, Cass strangely not here. She smiles and I notice her crimson jacket is around her waist, revealing a side bun with hair still hanging down. I raise my brow at her 'fancy get up' and she rolls her eyes, patting my ribbons. I smack her arm and she laughs, coming in and letting me close the door.

"So, is anyone else here?" she wonders.

"Kota, Yuka, Yuki, Zero, Ichiru, Kaname, Granny, Nana, May-"

She grips my shoulders, wide-eyed and hopeful. "GRANDMA?"

I nod and lead her to the kitchen, where Grandma is standing. Level squeaks and hugs Grandma, smiling like she didn't know it. Well, I gather she didn't. Level pries herself off and hops to me, not noticing the stares. "Yeah, so she's here," I state.

She giggles. "Hey, I got you a present!"

I sigh. "It's Christmas _Eve_, you dope."

She blushes, still handing the gift to me. "So? Just don't open it till then."

I nod and walk out, shifting to the room with a Christmas tree, several presents stacked underneath, and place it there, taking out a sharpie and writing:

**FROM: **

**LEVEL JIMA**

**TO: **

**LUCY/KAEDE/NYUU JIMA**

I cap it. "Huh, you're one for protecting presents."

I jump and turn to Kaname, not actually noticing he was sitting in the chair behind me. "Oh, you."

He nods. "So how are you doing Lucy?"

I shrug. "Could be better, could be worse, what's it to you?"

"Have you forgotten when you came?"

Yeah, the vomit incident. I nod and try to walk out, but I spot something out of the corner of my eye. I raise a brow and notice my horns are in pain, and then they grow numb. I don't scream, I just feel under to bloody ribbon, the tip of my left horn blown off, and I mean the very tip, the horns apparently growing numb somehow. I sigh and try to use my shape-shifter blood to fill in the gap for the mean-time; it works. Kaname flicks the separated horn away and glares at me. I shrug and walk off, Kaname grabbing my elbow, but I don't shove him off with the vectors.

"What?" I hiss.

"You do realize you're just a magnet to them, right?" he snarls. "You'll bring them here."

I roll my eyes and shrug him off. "If you're talking about the Levels, Level has them under control."

"How do you know that's even Level?"

I freeze. True, Level never took off her jacket…I gasp and run into the kitchen, Level sitting there talking with Yuka. I growl and heave her up by the shoulder dragging her out with many stairs. I force her up the steps and just stop at the mid-step, my face as red and pink as my eyes. She raises a brow, confused. "What?" she questions. I cross my arms and slap her across the face, coming up with the result I wanted; scraped make-up. "HEY!"

I spit in her eye and the red iris shifts, revealing a gray eye. "Who are you?"

"You're sister!"

I kick her knee, making her yelp and hold it. "I want an answer."

She sighs and starts cackling, standing straight and shrinking down to Yuki's size, which is a little smaller than me to be honest. "I'm Maria Kurenai, what about you?"

I raise a brow and snatch her collar, yanking her up to my eye level. "Where's Level?"

She smirks. "Why should I tell you?"

I slam her head against the wall. "That's why. Now where is she?"

She shakes her head. "I'm not saying until I know you better."

I slip out only four of my vectors, remembering what that Level E nurse did with one. "There, better?" I throw her on the ground and charge her with a vector, making her grab all in only two hands, but when the others rush, she's unprepared. She gasps and sputters, but I realize the fangs. "ZERO! WE GOT A VAMPIRE!"

I hear Zero running this way, and eventually Maria bites one of the more visible vectors, making me scream and the vectors vanish. She pushes me off the top stair and watches me tumble, slamming into Zero in the process. Maria cackles. "She's gone, face it. Now, what about that name?"

I'm frozen. Blood…rust…my stomach twists at the metallic scent that lingers and push up, something shooting out of my hand. Whatever it is, it makes her take a step back. I stand and throw it at her, making her scream and dodge so it'd pin her arm. She tries to yank it out, but it won't come out. Zero aims the gun, but Ichiru stops him, making Zero's face turn red. I raise a brow and hear a door shut. Kaname comes over and looks up at Maria. I freeze, blood, breath, and all, and pass out, smacking my head on the first step.

…

_**It's cold. I, Level Jima, am cold. The snow is hard, whipping my exposed face. My hair is in a ponytail and my crimson jacket is wrapped around my waist like a belt, my T-shirt not giving my thin arms enough protection from the storm and the weather forcing harsh, deep cuts into the muscle. I walk forward, shivering but refusing to remove my hands from their jean pockets. I fall into the snow, my hands flying out fast enough to push themselves into the snow. I weakly push myself up, wishing for Kaede Lucy Jima, my twin, to be here with me, or at least that she's alive and somehow survived that bullet. Soon I reach a familiar house, something I haven't seen in a little less than a year. That doesn't mean I remember it. **_

"_**HEY!" I call. "HELP ME PLEASE!"**_

_**I look up to Cherry Blossoms flying down. Soon I stop, despite the cold, to see a Pureblood vampire before me, Mommy and Daddy having taught me how to recognize the classes. She turns to me with teary eyes. I take a step back, trying to warm up my legs. Was this really happening? I look down the path and turn several times, only ending up with her still there, before me by standing in front of a Cherry Blossom tree, and a huge one may I add.**_

"_**Who are you?" she asks shakily. I don't answer. "Don't worry."**_

_**I turn to rustling and see someone come out, so I take a step back, and then run left, circling and taking random turns until I have no idea where I am. I take out my vectors, visible now to any eye, and grab trees, trying to think of some means of warmth. I can't think of any, so I continue running forward, the frost scorching my lungs and throat. I eventually see light, so I pick up the pace and trip on some large stone, rolling down a small snow pile and slamming hard into some door, my eyes rolling over and over. I wince and grip a rock, hearing someone coming and climb up the house, but someone catches me.**_

"_**HOLD IT!" **_

_**I freeze and turn; it's just Zero. This is why the house is familiar. "Z-Z-Z…Z-Z…"**_

_**He raises a brow. "Who are you?"**_

_**I drop off the wall and land on my back, wincing and pushing myself up with a lot of strain. "Z-Z-Z-Z-Zero!"**_

_**He raises a brow and gasps, running over and helping me up. "Level…MOM! DAD! LEVEL'S HERE!"**_

_**I scream and point to the Pureblood, staring at the both of us. Something pushes me into the door again and I go through it, smacking into a wall. I hear screaming and smell blood, but I can't get up. Once I can, I find a big gash at my head and push myself up, locating where the blood was strongest and run in that direction, only to find myself in one of the halls staring at a door containing the Pureblood and Ichiru. I gasp and feel warm, boiling tears streak down my numb face. Ichiru turns, gasping, and the Pureblood turning. **_

"_**I-I-Ichiru?" I stutter. "W-W-W-W-Where's Z-Z-Z-Zero? Aunt Lily? Uncle Kiryu?" He frowns and steps out of the way, permitting me to run in and scream at the top of my sore lungs. Aunt and Uncle are there dead, of course only that way by the friendship with my parents. Zero is there, barely living. I rush over, or try to, but Ichiru grabs the back of my shirt to stop me, making me turn with teary eyes. I gulp. "Please don't tell me you did what I did."**_

_**He frowns deeper and scowls. "So you remember me?"**_

_**I nod, tears flowing like mad. "Why would I forget my best friend?"**_

"_**THEN WHY DID YOU RUN!"**_

_**I blink. "That was you in the bushes?" He nods. "I didn't see you. I only heard bushes rustling and I heard something step out. Honest!"**_

_**He pushes me back, making me trip over one of Zero's arms. "LIAR!"**_

_**I blink, the gap stinging a whole lot now. I grip a shelf corner and pull myself up, staring at him. "I'm not lying. Besides, you killed me, so why am I the guilty one?" He frowns, tears at the brim of his eyes. The Pureblood rubs his back to comfort him, but only because she wants him to stay with her. I stand, my numb fists pinned to my sides. "Why am I the bad guy? I killed my parents…sure…you sold out yours, though, but I killed mine on accident…Why am I the bad one? Huh? What did I do to you? I played with you when Kaede went off to play with Zero. I didn't leave you alone…I was dead for the past year…why? Why?" I take a Bloody Rose and aim it at him. "Why do you have to side with her? She killed your parents. She killed those nice people that made it able to connect our families…She's killed. She's a Pureblood, and she wants more blood to avenge that guy she used to love…You're the liar…" I start to hear the sobbing in my voice. "You're the liar…you're the bad one…look at Zero…I didn't hurt Kaede…HE PROTECTED YOU!" I shoot at them, but the Pureblood pulls him away. I start sobbing and chuck the gun at the hall wall, making it shoot my shoulder. "YOU HATE ME! I LOVED YOU! YOU USED ME HUH? YOU…you…" I shut my eyes and look down. "I love you still…I can't be angry…"**_

_**Someone rests a hand on my forehead and I open my eyes to Ichiru, staring at me with crying eyes. "I don't hate you…I don't hate you…"**_

_**I pat his head. "If you want to go, go. It's not like I can stop you."**_

_**He smiles slightly and hugs my neck. "Won't you come with?"**_

_**Something cuts the side of his neck and he gasps, peeling off of me and feeling at the new, shallow cut I gave him at the nape of his neck. "That's to remember me."**_

_**He blinks. "But…"**_

_**I pat his shoulder. "I know you're going to be safe. I don't have to look over you. You're strong." He smiles, slightly crying. "Zero's in pain, and I don't think he can call vampire hunters unconscious and bleeding out." He chuckles. "Go. Live and wait for me okay?"**_

_**He pauses and smiles. "Meet me next to the Cherry Blossom!"**_

_**He stands and runs off, making me notice he bandaged up my shoulder during all of that. I stand and walk over to Zero, rolling him onto his back and examining the neck, grabbing some water and cloth and pressing it there to only draw back a thoroughly soaked cloth after ten seconds. I sigh and chuck it, standing to walk away, but I feel Zero grab my ankle. **_

"_**Is it really you Level?" he mutters.**_

_**I nod back at him. "Where's Kaede?"**_

_**He shakes his head and nearly nods off, but I grab a bucket of water and dump it on him, making him not choke and sputter, but lie their, staring at the ceiling with sorrow. He smiles coldly to himself. "I called her a freak…just because that's what I thought of to keep the association away from her…so they wouldn't kill her…she's a nice person…the horns…I had to pretend that's the reason I called her that…If I die, to go up with my parents, can you tell her that? Can you tell her I only wanted to," he softly crying now, "help her…?"**_

_**I nod and pat his head, grabbing a phone and calling up one of the hunters. **_

...

I groan and wake up, rubbing my head and looking around to see I'm still on the bottom of the steps, Zero pressing a cloth to my head. "Hey," he grunts. I smile and spit in his eye, like old times. He laughs and jumps back, rubbing the spit out. "Hey! That's not fair, Lucy!"

I shrug and push myself up. "What can do you expect? I'm like that."

He pats my head and I stand to another knock on the door. I see everyone else is in the dinning room, so Zero follows me and I look up to Maria, poking Zero and him sighing. "Ichiru won't let me kill it, so she's eating with us. Oh, and Level was in your closet."

I blink. "Which 'my closet'?"

"The one closest to the stairs," he answers, meaning the one next to it by a yard. I huff and Zero opens the door, my arms crossed and my gaze on the floor. A cock of a gun brings my attention, and Zero is slammed into the wall next to him. "HEY!"

"There you are…Lucy."

I freeze, gaping slightly. My eyes wide, I look up to Kurama and that soldier, Bonco. I shut the door with my vectors and put my back against it, Bonco shooting the surface and skimming my arm. Maria raises a brow, but I ignore it.

"GUYS!" I scream. "IT'S THE FACILITY!"


	15. Challenge Level! Level 15

**Challenge Level!**

Bunco and Kurama are sitting at the table, Yuka and Yuki restraining Kota for multiple reasons, Kaname leaning against the wall and glaring at them, Grandma left, Nana and Mayu are sitting on the floor, Zero is at my left, Ichiru at my right, and Level at his right. "Let me guess," I cross my arms with a frown, "you've come for Nana?"

"And you," Kurama adds.

Nana smiles and stands to go to her 'dad', but Mayu tugs on Nana's pants cuff, so she sits back down. "Yes, and me, but it's not like I'm one for assuming, D*CK," I snarl. "Any reason you came here? As everybody can tell you, I've been well behaved."

Maria enters and to be honest, she freaks me out somehow. She sits next to Mayu, who smiles and waves, in which Maria returns the wave. Bunco chuckles. "They'd probably say that because they're under blackmail."

Even I can tell Level is P*SSED, and that's rare. She launches perfectly visible vectors at his throat and pins him to the floor. "Shut up," she whispers. "You don't know what she's been through."

Ichiru rests a hand on her shoulder. "That's enough Level."

Level nods and her vectors vanish. Kurama raises a brow. "How does she have vectors, but white hair and no horns?"

"Easy, she's not a Diclonius," I snap. "There are other beings out there, punk as*. She's one of them."

Level nods, and adds bravely, "I'm the Queen of the Levels."

I freeze with wide-eyes and a frown and stare at her, arms spread. "Did you _really _have to add that?"

She nods. "I'm no coward."

"Yeah, you're also no genius," I mutter.

"Excuse me, but _who _got captured by these two?"

"I didn't get captured," I snap.

"Then how do they know you?"

Zero sends her a warning look as if to say 'don't otherwise she might go whacko again', which makes me huff. "Simple, these D*CK heads shot a human friend of mine and I _surrendered _because they promised to _save her_." I look down, tears falling onto the floor under my hidden eyes, causing Kaname, Kota, Yuki, Yuka, Mayu, and Nana to stare, Ichiru and Zero patting and rubbing my back as Level frowns. "Well they broke that now didn't they?" Of course everyone can hear the breaking in my voice.

"We tried our best, Lucy," Kurama stands, making me shoot my head up and my eyes to pulse with anger.

"IT'S NOT LUCY!" I scream, Zero whacking me upside the head. I blink with wide-eyes and gaping mouth for a second until I stiffen and shake my pink bob. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he ruffles the hair between my ribbons.

I cross my arms at Bunco and Kurama once again. "Well, I don't see why you have to stay here; since like I said I've been well-"I look down to a warm feeling in my skirt. I look at the back. "SH*T! Excuse me!"

I run out covering the bloodied back of the school skirt, thankful that it was dark enough for the others not to notice. I skid into the bathroom and search for a pad or a tampon at least, either that or toilet paper so I have _something_. I mean it sucks, I'm a whole different thing from a human, being made from a dragon, a shape-shifter, a vampire, and a human, yet I get PERIODS? I mean come on you don't hear tales with dragons having to rush behind bushes because of a period, nor vampires! Shape-shifters are basically magical humans so, and the human part is simple to get, but REALLY? I huff and quickly do my business with the infernal monthly curse I have been praying stopped, since it hasn't come around for at _least _four months now. I wash my hands and walk back out, in a new skirt since the other is in the laundry. I walk past the slides to Zero covering his mouth, trying to hide the smile underneath and Ichiru laughing. I walk over and smack both upside the head, walking next to Level who I notice has her jacket off, so I yank her nose.

"OW!" she stares at me.

"Checking if it was you since," I jerk my head at Maria. She blinks and nods, allowing me to turn to Kurama standing and Bunco reloading and unloading his machine gun. "Any reason you brought only him if you wanted us to go back?"

"Unlike you, I'm not one for going straight into a fight for no reason," he glares behind his glasses. "I want to know how you survived the night on the bridge."

Ichiru stops laughing and Zero drops his hand, staring up at me. I look down, the hair falling in front of my face and my arms dropping to my sides. I see Level's jacket tied around her waist like a belt and she's actually _thinner _than I thought. "You're lousy shots."

Well, it's not like I can go outright and say I'm a fourth vampire! They are supposed to be a secret. Speaking of which… "That bridge was filled with most of the soldiers the facility has, you can't tell me that all of them missed you!" Bunco laughs.

I glare at him. "Remember why you have two fake eyes and a fake forearm," I smirk under the strands of pink, making him stand as well.

"Why you…"

Kaname takes a step forward. "I wouldn't try to harm her if I were you."

"And who are you supposed to be?" Bunco snaps.

I knock him back with a vector. "Don't talk to him that way, he might be a PR*CK at times, but he's at least _sane_. I swear you guys could be like Blackbeard…"

"Who?" Kurama raises a brow.

I cover my mouth. Jeez, I just HAD to say that huh? Zero furrows his brow and I mouth at him 'play date', in which he immediately understands. I shake my head and raise my hands up above my head. "Forget I even said that and let's move onto why _you're _alive. Didn't you die in that explosion with your _darling _little _Mariko_?"

He tenses. "What did you do?"

I guess he isn't as dumb as I keep thinking him out to be. "Simple, she's _INSANE _and you put her in a school with a bunch of _humans_. I'm sorry, but I was just protecting my friends and family!"

Level smiles and I realize my mistake. I glare at her and she shrugs. "You just don't like killing, I get it," she whispers.

Kurama grows red-faced. I smirk. "Oh, so you'd rather a 'horned-freak' like her to kill everyone? Gee, that's selfish if you ask me."

Zero places his left hand on my left shoulder. "Enough, Ka."

"Ka?" Bunco asks.

I smile at Zero. At least he knows who I am, like Level and Ichiru. I wipe the smile off and face Kurama and Bunco. "Look, like I said, well-behaved and no reason at all to go back."

"Just because you're well-behaved now doesn't mean you can erase all the murders you've committed in the past," Kurama reminds. "The sins included."

I freeze. I look up at the ceiling, seeing through up to Heaven, where Mom and Dad are. I sigh. Yeah, I can't erase it. I can't erase the fact I ripped off Nana's arms and legs. I can't erase the fact that I killed…Mommy and Daddy. I can't erase the fact I killed a country load of guards and soldiers (maybe Belgium). I can't even erase the fact I killed Kota's sister and dad. I can't erase the death of my friend, the murder of those three boys and that girl, the people who I killed so I could live in their homes, the people in the festival, and others.

"I know that. Otherwise my parents would still be alive." Level pats my back and Zero glares at them, Ichiru standing and patting my head. Everyone else pretty much freezes, except Kaname who I smile at, in which he smiles slightly back. I guess he's just trying to be nice, but hey, I'll take what I can get. I smirk at Kurama and Bunco. "Although it's disproven because YOU died, and yet you're here."

Level thinks about it and taps my shoulder, leaning into my ear. "I think Level Sixteen did that."

I raise a brow and jump, staring at her with wide-eyes. "SHE DID WHAT NOW?"

She shrugs. "She's the only one who can do that."

I groan and slap my forehead. "Remind me to kill you later."

"And you said you were behaving," Yuka giggles.

I smirk back at her. "Shut up," I roll my eyes.

I look out the window behind Kurama and Bunco and gasp; it's Fifteen. I think she skipped to Level Six, since last time I checked Level here said she was at Level 4, when the eye colors change, not when she goes bonkers. I leap up on the table and launch out the window, throwing my vectors at the crazy B*TCH who leaps at me, trying to bite my neck off with bloody fangs. Level comes out and throws all thirty visible vectors at 'it', the body ripping to shreds and exploding into ash. A beating heart lands at my feet and a Bloody Rose shoots it to dissolve to ash. I look up to a angry-worried-Zero who jumps out and comes over to the two of us.

"Are you two okay?" he asks.

We nod and return, Level using her vectors and some help from Yuka and glue to stick the window together until they can get it fixed properly. Kurama is glaring at me. "What was that thing?"

I sigh. "A Level Six Level," I shrug.

"Level Six Level?" Bunco chuckles.

"It's not funny," I glare. "A Level Six Level is a Level gone insane. Unlike Level One and Level Two, where they're normal and Level Two has a slight additional hunger, nothing much." Although they don't know what that means, Ichiru and Zero got it down loud and clear.

"Level Three is when vectors shoot out at random," Level continues. "Level Four is when the eyes turn red, but I was born with red eyes so…Level Five is when they grow violent and do things on their own accord, and Level Six is," she points out the window, "that."

Kota walks next to me. "Um, Lucy?"

"Yeah, Kota?" I raise a pink brow.

"Do you have any 'Levels' or 'Stages'?"

Well, it only makes sense for him to ask since Level and I are twins. "Well, she thinks we share various ones. Level Three is already proven…"

Ichiru frowns. "That was…"

I nod. Yuki comes up, smiling at me to cheer me up. I must admit it works partially. My back shakes and I grow wide-eyed. I crouch down. "GET BACK!"

They all jump back and Bunco reaches for the machine gun, new vectors shooting out and more visible than the others. I scrunch my eyes shut as three more vectors pool out, so that makes seventeen. The hole drips blood, and when I open my eyes, Kaname and Zero are out of the room like that. I understand, and Level goes out to, Mayu and Nana following Maria up to Mayu's room so they can distract Maria, even though they don't know about vampires and just think it's that thing where the salt and rust smell makes people dizzy. Ichiru grabs bandages and Yuka grabs towels, both working at the newly formed hole. Yuki keeps me up and I stare down the barrel of Bunco's machine gun.

"Put that away," I snap. "This is just something from before you knew me."

"How would that be?" Kurama crosses his arms.

"Easy, shot in the head, lost my memories and sixteen vectors refused to come out. Changed my name because I didn't know the value. Then YOU came and shot me in the head AGAIN," Yuki winces at this, "and made me act like a one-year-old-"

"They can't walk though," Yuka states.

I roll my eyes. "'Nyuu' was my first word, Yuka. Anyways, and before all of this, I didn't want to hurt anybody, but then those guys, and that theory, my parents…"

Ichiru pats the back of my head. "Don't think about it. And weren't those guys gunned down?"

I shake my head. "It was either that or die myself," I whisper, "and Sis."

"Sis?" Bunco raises a brow.

Once the hole is at least stopped bleeding, Level re-enters, but the others are still out. I think that's because they're not only a quarter vampire. "Hey Lu. Why are these guys still here? It's Christmas Eve for Pete's Sake!"

I roll my eyes. "She's my sister," I look at Level.

Level nods. "Yep, and I'm proud of it!"

"That'd explain the vectors," Kurama mutters. "But why did only one of you get horns and pink hair?"

"Well, the pink hair is actually a mix of Mom's hair and Dad's, since Mom had really light red hair and Dad had platinum blonde. Her hair's white because it's just that close," I inform, feeling more comfortable to my past. "Now, are you going to leave? It is Christmas Eve after all."

Kurama nods. "You'll go back soon, I promise you that."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, but you break your promises."

They leave and the others return, Yuka taking Mayu and Nana to the kitchen to get the rest of diner ready. I sit in between Yuki and Zero, Level across from me and Ichiru next to her. Kota is next to Kaname, which the two seem to be getting along well, and I look out the window. I hope Christmas will go alright, since I only have so much sanity left in me. Zero pats my head and I look at him. He has a fake mustache drawn on his upper lip and I shake my head with a smile spread out.

"Crack head," I mutter before Yuka, Mayu, and Nana come in with diner.


	16. Level 16

I yawn with a hand over my mouth and watch the sunlight pour in. I roll out of bed and slam into the floor head-first, making a little squeak. No surprise there. I'm NYU now (or NYUU, whatever). I sit on my knees, the calves spread out slightly, and squeak. The door opens and Ichiru enters, smiling. "Hey NYU," he greets.

"NYU!" I clap my hands.

He smiles and helps me up. "Come on…let's get you down stairs…"

I clap and run out, Ichiru sighing and running to catch up. I rush down the stairs and into the room with the Christmas tree, spying Zero and… "ZERO-KUN!"

He jumps when I hug his neck tightly. He smiles. "Funny NYU."

_DON'T ENCOURAGE HER! _I scold, but really? Do you _think _he can hear me? Nope, if he did, he's telepathic then. Someone yawns (loudly may I say) and NYU (the 'I' in most of these dmn sentences) turns to see Yuka. "NYU!" Yuka ALSO receives a tackle. _Can you ever NOT be annoying? _I snap. Honestly I think she's getting better at listening to me while I'm inside myself. "Nope!" she laughs.

Yuka blinks. "NYU," she calls her attention, "who are you talking to?"

"NYU!"

Oh of course. _SOMEONE TELL NYU THAT CHIRSTMAS IS CANCELED! _I scream. Wait…yep, I did it. She starts bawling (HA!) and everyone just stares (*rusted halo over my head*). Zero walks over and hugs me, patting my back. "Okay, okay, there's nothing to cry about…"

"NYU!"

_Hehe…_Like I said, Christmas is not one of my favorite days…okay, fck it, I hate the day, like said before (not my fault you failed to remember). A) It's useless to me and B) my parents kind of traumatized me to hate it, so yeah. Level enters with some red sleeping gown, rubbing her eyes and yawning, little fangs revealing. "Yo, where's Kaede?"

NYU points to her skull. "She being NYU!"

"Mean?" Yuka asks.

NYU nods. _Am not, _I lie. _**Are to! **_NYU manages to think (like I said, there IS a God). _Prove it. __**You said Christmas cancelled! **__Nope. __**Yes! **__Nope. __**MEANIE! **_She bawls harder and Zero sighs, shaking his head. "Kaede, stop being mean to NYU."

Am I being mean? No, not really. NYU taps her temple and Yuka nods, Zero taking out the out of shape tray (What. The. Fck.) and, right when Kota enters, slamming it against my head. I must admit I'm getting used to it, but yeah, I'm knocked out. NYU and I take FOREVER to switch, seeing she won't stop WHINING (I mean seriously can a person even whine as much as her?) and eventually I just shove her at the back of my mind, popping my eyes open to arguing. I rub my eyes. "Yo, tune it down before I rip someone's vocals out," I grumble.

"Morning, sis," Level hauls me up. "And would you really rip out your boyfriend's throat?"

"What boyfriend?" Kota asks at the door.

I smack Level upside the head. "Nothing, just Level being the pot-head she is."

"Love you to," she mutters.

Ichiru chuckles. "Okay, are we all forgetting it's Christmas?"

"A useless holiday that SHOULD be forgotten?" I snap. "How could we when people keep bringing it up?"

Yuka sighs. "What do you have against Christmas?"

"Eh, her parents fought one time on Christmas," Zero leans against the wall. "What was it about, Kaede?"

"Christmas pictures," Level and I mutter.

"Oh yeah, the elf hats!" Ichiru chuckles.

We sigh. "If that means you brought them, fork them over," Level holds out a palm.

Mayu and Nana come running in. "Christmas!" Mayu cheers.

"Careful, you shouldn't say that in front of old Scrooge."

"Is that supposed to mean something punk?" I challenge.

"Read for once in your life and you'll see," Nana smirks like she achieved something. Yeah, a death sentence for later on purposes.

"Oh be nice," Kota sighs. "I'm sure Lucy has in fact read books in her life."

"She has," Zero snaps as if Kota insulted me in someway. "Trust me, she could recite three of them."

"If I could remember what the hll you're talking about," I pull a sarcastic smile.

He sighs. "Let that go, will you?"

"Shot in the head," I remind. "That's not really easy to let go."

"Boys, girls, we all know you like each other!" Ichiru and Level laugh.

Zero and I give both a death glare. We chase them around the house after they realize they're fresh lion meat. "GET BACK HERE!" Zero and I roar in unison.

They're just laughing like idiots, not a care in the world. I sigh in mid-run, slamming into a doorframe and slightly wincing, sure, but I'm just too busy thinking about the world I'm going to be missing if I die fighting the levels. "Hey," Zero comes over, prying my face from the wood. "You okay?" he asks.

I shrug. "Depends. Emotionally, sort of. Physically…" NOW the pain kicks in? I cover my nose. "OWW!"

"And that is why you don't run in houses, Mayu and Nana," Yuka shakes her head as they come up.

-_-;

I hold the ice pack against my nose while Zero sits next to me, Ichiru on my left (NOT ON ZERO YOU MESSED UP FREAKS) and Level next to Ichiru (not on me!). Kota is watching Nana and Mayu tear into presents, Mayu mostly getting things for Wonta, and Nana…a variety, let's leave it at that. "Hey Kaede," Zero leans next to my ear. "What did you say to NYU that made her bawl a river?"

"An ocean, first of all," I correct, "and second of all, that Christmas was cancelled with a capitol 'C'."

"A little mean, don't you think?" Ichiru wonders.

I shrug. "Out of all honesty, I've never really liked her much…"

I pick up that present Maria left and open it to a 'Hope we'll be friends' card and a little blood tablet. I roll my eyes and set it in front of me, looking around for any others. Level tosses something to me. "It has your name on it."

I read the label to see it's to me, but the FROM is blank. I blink and tear it open. Next thing you know there's a big flash and I'm thrown against the wall. I cough and something floats into my lap.

**Merry Christmas, btch.**

Bonco. I cough even more and push myself up. "WHO THE FCK PACKED A BOMB?" Level shrieks.

"A psychopath?" Nana suggests.

"Well, you could say that," I shrug. "Doesn't matter. We're all alive, right?"

Zero blinks down at a knocked out Ichiru. "I _think _Ichiru's breathing…"

I roll my eyes and laugh, tears brimming my red-pink eyes. I'm sure going to miss this…everything.

**A.N: SHORT CHAPTER, I KNOW! I WANT TO GET THIRTY CHAPTERS AND I'M RUNNING SHORT OF IDEAS HERE!**


	17. Level 17

"KYA! KYA! KYA!" the Day Class girls scream in front of the Night Class gates.

"HEY!" Yuki grunts. "NO PUSHING!"

I huff and turn to them, blowing on the whistle hard. Yep, we're back in Cross, January, and these girls are REALLY annoying. Im just glad I can yell at someone, meaning these fcks...They all stop to cover their bleeding ears and I straighten, my face blank. "Listen up!" I roar. "This is ridiculous! Are you supposed to be well-behaved students or a bunch of dck headed fan girls?"

They mutter and I turn back, shoving my pink dyed whistle away (I. Hate. Level.). Zero raises a brow and I simply shrug. I mean it's not like I can burst out and say 'I'M GONNA DIE SOON! KISS ME YOU MOTHER FCK!'. Okay that _last _part I pulled from a movie when I was younger that I actually remember, so…no funny ideas. I sigh and look up at the sky, the 'KYA, KYA, KYA' actually getting _louder _and making me want to kill one of them, but I have my self control, vector control is harder but I have that to. The gates open and the Night Class comes out, Level nor Cass among them (I'm SO glad they don't come here). Ruka waves to me, so I wave back to be polite. Aido, Hanabusa tries to walk over, so I snarl and he backs off, and I wave to Kain, Akatsuki, in which he waves back. After we get everyone to their dorms, it's patrol time.

"Why don't you let us handle this?" Zero pats my shoulder. "You look stressed out."

"I *twitch* don't *twitch* know what *twitch* you MEAN! *Twitch with nervous/evil laughter*"

He sighs. "Don't make me push you back."

I huff and nod, returning to my dorm and staring at the ceiling. When am I going to get the guts to stand UP and walk OUT to kill those btches? I shrug to myself and curl into a little ball to sleep. Unfortunately, about ten minutes later into my candy-land dream, someone knocks on my door with all their might and I snarl, standing and rubbing my eyes as I shuffle to the door. "COMING!" I scream as they continue.

I unlock the dorm door to open it to a blue haired girl with blue eyes and a blue jacket, clutching her clawed in throat. "Help…me…"

"Okay!" I gasp, leading her to the bed and running for my bandages and the glass of water. I tend to the wounds. "Who are you and what happened?" I ask as I wrap the bandages.

"I'm…Level Sixteen…"

That'd explain the Hood Jacket, I mean I've seen one on every good Level! "Okay, what happened Level Sixteen?"

"Please call me Mia…" she wheezes. Man the wounds are deep. "Level Seventeen…went ballistic…said she's going to kill…"

"Kill who?" I shake her shoulders.

"Project 3547…"

"What the…who?"

"Project 3547…the newest level…he's a boy…"

I raise a brow. A boy level? "Whoa, whoa, whoa, why are you coming to-"

"You're Level's sister," she huffs. "Level is in danger, you have to help her!"

"Trying, I just need to get out of here first," I motion around the room.

The wounds start to close up, so she sits up easier. "Yes…I know…but Level isn't going to live long! The others are planning mutiny!"

Good thing I remember my pirates because 'mutiny' means to 'take over the ship' 'get rid of the captain' and that stuff. So basically they're going to try and over-rule her; the Queen of Levels, the reason they're even there. "Ungrateful cnts…" I mutter. "Look, who is, who's good, and who can I kill?"

She hands me a list written in Curlz MT font for computers.

**TARGETS**

_**17 LEVEL: 6**_

_**18 LEVEL: 6 and MIA**_

_**21 LEVEL: 4**_

_**22 LEVEL: 6 and MIA**_

_**24 LEVEL: 6 and in custody**_

_**27 LEVEL: 6 and MIA**_

_**28 LEVEL: 6 and Missing**_

_**29 LEVEL: 4 and INSANELY INSANE**_

"What happened to Levels Nineteen and Twenty-Six?" I wonder.

"They calmed down," she informs. "They've always been just followers, but they understand this is too far and the anger made them more Diclonius than vampire!"

"Wait," I blink. I lean down with a glare. "How do you know that term?"

"I was caught by your facility," she shifts. "It was temporary, but I was Number 54."

"Number 54, huh?" I sigh, straightening. "Well, Mia, in order for me to help, you need to help me get out. What stage are you at?"

"Level Two, Miss Lucy," she bows her head. "I was at Three for a bit, but that's because of private business…"

I pat her head. "Okay, how about you stay here and think up something while I go to school tomorrow and pull off a little show to make them not suspect a thing, okay?"

She nods and I sleep on the floor since I'm the only non-injured one. _Levels Seventeen, Eighteen, Twenty-One, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Seven through Twenty-Nine, your deaths will be slow and painful I guarantee that, because if you screw with my twin, you screw with me!_ Level Sixteen and Level Nineteen and Level Twenty and Level Twenty-five huh? Well, I just hope they will help my sister, because by the sounds of the project…

…3547…vectors and yards…

…yep, I'm dying soon.


	18. Level 18

The sun is hot against my skin and uniform and textbooks as I walk from the dorms, the abandoned section of the Sun Girls Dorms filled with only Level Sixteen, to the school building, where 'innocent' people roam around and scoot away at the sight of me. I smirk maniacally and continue. It's nice to know who won't be missing me, because I'm haunting those fcks in my ghost days, He-He. I frown a bit. _What about those who will miss me? _Hmm, make them hate me I guess, I mean I don't need happiness to fight, and besides the only person I have to worry about with the harsh comebacks are Zero and Ichiru and that's because they know me. I sigh and bump into a wall, some students whispering about 'that odd girl who always wears ribbons'. I mean can't these humans EVER mind their own business? I push off and follow the walls to the noisy (and nosy) classroom where Yuki is talking with her friend, Sayori, and Zero…I huff. Late as usual I guess. That or hiding under the desk for some unknown reason. I walk up to were he usually is and look beneath the desk and nod to myself. Yep, he's late. I'm serious what will it take to get him to come on time? Education is important, whether you're human or not.

I sit down next to Zero's usual seat and open the textbook to read a random page. I look up blankly after a few sentences of _vampire mythology_ and shut it, my eyes closing in unison. Sometimes it feels like Life is _trying _to pss me off. Oh well, it just earned Death yet another 'ring and run' torment session for ten minutes. Trust me, I've done it plenty of times before in via facility. You know I've actually done it so many times it isn't funny. I guess he just sits there behind his door with a shotgun waiting for just to say 'GO BACK TO LIFE LUCY!'. I guess that's one good thing about me, people don't want me at all, so even Death would reject me. I smile sickly at that and hear the hinges of the door at the bottom of the room squeaking to look at the teacher. Yep, Zero's going to get it. I hear a slight DUNK and look over to Yuki to gap. SHE FALLS ASLEEP NOW? I shake my head at her sleeping figure. You know, dying actually _doesn't _seem like a hot idea anymore.

Jeez. I set my forehead on the desk. I'm serious these decisions just get more and more complicated by the moment. I hear a scream and shoot up, seeing a girl holding her _bleeding _neck. People stand and she falls sideways on her chair, Yuki waking up as I'm already next to her helping her up to get her to the infirmary. The top door of the room opens, but I don't look. "Someone help me with this!" I snap.

Someone picks her up bridal style and I turn to Zero. "I'll take her to the infirmary."

He walks out, leaving the humans as silent as a field of chainsaws on hyper mode.

**X_X**

"Did you see Lucy?"

"Yeah, she didn't show any confusion."

"It's like she did it."

"Oh come on! She might be the female Zero, but she isn't evil!"

And ext. Yeah, it's happening at lunch to. I huff and nibble on some chicken, sort of wishing for rice balls to appear right here. I'm not entirely sure why, but I just want to eat rice balls all day. I pick up my tray, still nibbling on my first piece of chicken, and walk away from the cafeteria and to my dorm, where Level Sixteen (Mia) is twiddling her thumbs like an idiot. I toss her the rest of the tray, despite I only had one piece of chicken wing. She bows her head in gratitude and picks up one chicken breast. "Thank you," she mumbles.

"Eh, don't mention it," I shrug, plopping my bag on the bed and sifting through for the scrapbook.

"That's Level's scrapbook!" Mia gasps. "She must really love you to hand it to you."

I smile slightly and run around the room to pack up the bag. "Mia, how do you get your best friend to hate you?"

"No idea, Great-great Aunt."

I shove the last of my belongings into the bag and heave it onto my back, looking down with my hair over my eyes. "Use the weak points of their pasts."

She stands, her eyes sorrowful. "Lucy, are you sure you want to make them hate you?"

"The more they hate me, the less I have to worry about them trying to help me," I sigh. "I'm only doing this to protect them."

"But surely there are other ways!"

"This isn't a fairy tale," I grunt. "Sacrifices must be made to make what is vile pure."

"You're watching too much TV," she sighs.

I smirk. "That may be so, but where is a television in this place?" I shrug innocently.

She smiles and nods. "Just make sure it's what you want."

I turn and set my hand on the doorknob. "Nothing I do is what I want," I sigh. "If I did, I'd already…I'd already have a boyfriend. I'd still have my family together along with the Kiryu's."

I open the door and walk out, Level Sixteen using the window of the dorm. Exiting the dorm, I run into Ichiru. "Hey Kaede! Where are you going?"

"Away," I state.

"Huh?" he freezes in his tracks. "Why?"

Jeez. "Simply because I can't stand the sight of stupid humans," I snarl. "Humans like you."

He gasps. "W-What are you saying? This isn't like you Kaede!"

"What would a human like you know?" I snap, still not facing him and walking. "All humans don't get us Diclonius. None of you do!"

He's silent as I walk on. Close to the gates I find Yuki, who just waves and walks off. I sigh. Curse my feelings of humans. I used to be cold, ruthless, and now I sympathize their weak race. Like a demon, I do not belong in their world, yet I remain. I chuckle to myself. I guess TV has gotten to the brain, but the facts remain true. At the gates, I find Zero, wandering aimlessly. Looking up to the sky I can find it's one o' clock, way longer than I expected to pack up simple things. "Hey Kaede," he greets. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," I shrug. "I'm just leaving is all."

He raises a brow. "Why? Expelled?"

"No, choice."

"Why would you choose to leave? What's wrong?" he steps forward.

"Don't come close to me."

"Why not?" he snaps. "I want to know what's wrong."

"And I want my parents back, yet I can't have them…" I turn to face him with lifeless eyes, trying to conceal everything I ever had that was happy, sad, or whatever. I just need him to hate me so I can't hurt him with death, if there was ever a possibility of that. "…just like you can't."

He freezes and growls. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how your human parents were as weak as to let a mere Pureblood kill them off the face of the Earth," I laugh out of all the pain I have in this. I loved them…they were practically family… "I guess humans are worth nothing. No wonder vampires are here, to kill your useless race o-"

My cheek stings with a backslap given to me by Zero. My smile grows wider and I stumble back, smirking out of all the misery in the air provided by us. Now I know he's had it. He hates me…he's safe from anything my life will give to him. "Just go," he snarls. "Don't even think about coming back."

"Glad to," I smirk, walking past him. "_Human_."

As I walk down the steps I look up to the sky with moist eyes. I lost my friends…for a cause. Now those btches are going to really suffer for forcing me to push myself into the brink of hatred by all.

**Questions**

**One-Would YOU have made your friends hate you if you were off to most likely die?**

**Two-Do you think Lucy will live?**

**Three-Do you think the project is as dangerous as the height of the number?**

**Four-Why o you think the Levels would mutiny against Level 30? **

**Answers will be given at beginning of next chapter!**


	19. Level 19

The streets aren't crowded, nor abandoned. Level Sixteen walks next to me and we reach an abandoned section of buildings, a wreck of a thirty story tall building far off, maybe a mile away? "Here it is," she sighs, stopping in front of a small little house with worn walls and creaking window sills. I look around and sigh. It's been a literal hike to get here. There's a river behind the house and I raise a brow. This house is so familiar…

"Hello?" I hear a female cough.

A young girl, maybe seven at most, walks up, twenty vectors clutching to her outline. She's sickly green and her blonde hair is up in a ponytail, a gold hood-jacket drooping over black formal pants and white sneakers, hazel eyes sparkling. "You are Level Twenty," I state.

She nods. "Please call me Jiah Watson."

"Okay, Jiah Watson," I sigh. "What is this place?"

She directs us in and an old teddy bear is on a shelf, coated in old blood and buttons for eyes. I gasp and I fall into black.

"**HAPPY BIRTHY DATE KAEDE!" Ichiru yells.**

"**Aw!" the moms coon. "So CUTE!"**

"**Jeez," Zero sighs.**

**It's my eighth birthday. I take a box Ichiru is offering me and I open it to a black teddy bear with brown buttons for eyes.**

I sigh. "I thought this place was destroyed…"

"We've been rebuilding it," Level Twenty informs. "The good Levels live here for now until the bad ones learn a lesson."

A seventeen-year-old walks in with twenty-six vectors clinging to her outline, long black hair to her ankles and charcoal eyes, a black jacket wrapped around the top of a black skirt like a belt, a white school shirt having a cardinal tie tucked under the shirt collar. She offers a hand. "Lucy."

"Level Twenty-Six."

"Please call me Yaui," she sighs. "I must admit you are positively strong for one with only twenty vectors."

I blink. "Didn't you kill-"

"Level Twelve," she huffs. "Yes, indeed. But Levels only live for so long, Miss Lucy. The amount of vectors determines survival limit. She wouldn't have lived long with being the lesser number."

"What about fifteen, huh? You didn't kill her," I snap.

Mia smiles. "I'm glad you care, Lucy, but we all agree with her philosophy."

"How can you call that philosophy? That's murder!"

"And? Think about it. Vampire hunting weapons can go through some weak vectors, and studies conducted by," she points to Yaui, "show that anyone below Fifteen would've died sometime around mid-age, as if they've been smoking since five. With the additional obvious statements, twenty for Twelve, seeing Twenty-Nine would've taken her time with torture."

"Ouch," I blink. "I guess I owe you a slight apology Yaui."

"No need. Not many get it without a small explanation," she shrugs. "Now, would you like to meet Lexeme?"

"Who?"

"Level Nineteen," a voice identical to Level's states. A girl with Level white hair walks in, a black jacket similar to Level's red one, pale skin like Level's, jeans, black combat boots, and blue eyes. She's Level's age. "I'm Lexeme, or Level Nineteen if you so prefer. I'm the second oldest Level."

"Really?" I blink.

"I'm Level's First Daughter," she nods her head. "Kept secret mostly, but that all ended a month ago."

"Wait…so you guys have more than one kid?" I raise a brow.

Jiah nods. "Complicated Science, but understandable none of the less."

"Level gave the position of Princess of the Levels to Cass because she has the closest amount of vectors," Mia shrugs. "It's so people don't get funny ideas of killing."

"You know I sometimes hate the rules," Yaui leans against a wall. "Right Level?"

Level walks in, dirt and blood smearing her face. "Eh, I made them, so yeah they pretty much SUCK BALLS."

I laugh and Level hugs me. "Hey sis."

She faces me. "You really want to do this?"

I shrug. "No turning back now."

Cass strolls in with several charts and maps. "Okay, so by theory, we SHOULD get the less number of vectors first, but results by," she points to Yaui, "show that eliminating the most out-of-control Levels is easier since they only go by mere instinct, not actual observation of surroundings."

I nod and cross my arms. "Hey, um, what's this Project 3547 Mia told me about?"

Lexeme sighs. "Easy, a boy injected painfully with everyone's blood."

I blink. "AND THAT MAKES 3547 VECTORS?"

Level shakes her head, eyes wide. "That'd be world-domination as we speak, sis. This guy has one vector made out of solid blood."

"Ew, a vector made from a scab?"

She giggles and Jiah takes over. "No, just a vector with the blood being visible. It's gross, but that's how life sucks," she shrugs. "Now, by his presence we've all calmed down a bit, well, save Level, but we never know if she's calm or not."

She laughs nervously and rubs the back of her head. "Yeah…I guess that's what you get when you're born with red eyes."

The room laughs and I turn to look out the window to the old building. "Is that the Level Complex or whatever you called it?"

Mia nods. "Each story had on Level, but there was a basement that was recently discovered and Twenty-Eight, Yaui's twin, conducted the experiments required to make 3547 down their without permission, therefore she must be terminated for treason and creating something that could kill a Pureblood."

"Huh, is that good or bad?" I chuckle.

Level rolls her eyes. "Don't think you can pay Jiskuru to kill Kaname, sis."

I laugh and keep watching. That's where I'm hitting? I crack my knuckles. "This is going to be fun…"


	20. Challenge Level! Level 20

**Challenge Level!**

Raining. Is that what happens will all beat-downs? The whole entire country rains? I sigh and move from wall to wall, peering out corners. May I say this takes longer than necessary, mostly because _someone _called the facility. Trucks and tanks roll down the streets, making me probably the one they're hunting. If not that, I can't be social and walk on the streets otherwise they'd shoot me on mark! Eh, that's how life sucks. As the rain pours harder, I finally manage to get within a five-yard-range of the shtty place. It makes me wonder how thirty levels all lived in that place, but eh, I doubt some levels even got here…I grit my teeth and push forward, ducking under a balcony to whip out the list, again revised and edited.

**TARGETS**

_**17 LEVEL: 6 (Seventeenth level)**_

_**18 LEVEL: ? (MIA)**_

_**21 LEVEL: 5 (Middle level)**_

_**22 LEVEL: 6 (BASEMENT)**_

_**24 LEVEL: ? (Missing)**_

_**27 LEVEL: 6 (BASEMENT)**_

_**28 LEVEL: 5 (BASEMENT)**_

_**29 LEVEL: 5 (INSANELY INSANE; top level)**_

It's good to know that Nineteen doesn't like to infer. I look around. This is Level territory is what Twenty said. I have to trust them seeing my sister is on there side, and she's…I step on some newspaper with a disturbing headline crushed under my brown leather boot. I pick it up to freeze all over.

**Massacre on Wilson Ave. **

_Recently on January 4 _(that's today…)_, a wild man with a silver gun reading 'Ice Arrows' shot and killed over 12 people in one area, one including an old woman by the name of _(too wet to read) _Jima. She died in the hospital while wishing to see her grandchildren __**Lucy**__ Jima and __**Level **__Jima._

That's how the facility found me…Grandma's dead…"FCK!" I roar, crumbling up the paper and chucking it at the moist wall. "DMNIT! CRP! SHT! FCKITY FCK FCK!" I kick a box to splinters. "I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!" I scream to God himself up in Heaven. "YOU HEAR ME? YOU'VE TAKEN MY PARENTS, YOU'VE TAKEN MY GRANDMA, AND YOU'VE TAKEN MY LIFE!" I punch a wall with a vector and it all falls down, the building I mean. I scream and clutch my horns, trying to rip them off. "GET THESE OFF! SOMEONE GET THESE FCKS OFF!"

I pull as hard as I can; they won't come out. I scream in frustration and my vectors rip up the pavement, becoming more and more visible with anger. _**Kaede-onee-chan? You there?**_

I freeze and growl. "Why are you in my head?" I snap.

_**If you're talking out loud, I can't hear you. **__Why are you in my head? __**Because I would've though someone who's played 'Pirate' ten billion times as a kid would've come back and 'gotten a crew like the good ole' men', if you'd like me to quote. **_I purse my lips. I stare at the building and shake my head. _I'm killing them myself. __**You really are looking forward to Level Genocide, eh? **__Pretty much, but not the good ones of course, I could use you sometime. __**Hardy her her.**__...It's HAR HAR, not HER HER. __**Shut up, so what if I laugh differently? **_I smile as she snaps the connection and I stumble forward with fists and a rumbling stomach. I don't care if I'm absolutely starving, heck, I wish I'd just starve right here and now to end my useless life. I mean come on, what has anyone wanted for me? Zero's stupid theory, yeah, I KNOW! He hates my guts now, remember? Yuki might, but what does she know? Kota? I killed his family. Yuka? Jealous to the core. Ichiru? Let a pureblood kill his own parents. Level? That's different, she's my sister, but she still…yeah, she's good. My parents? Dead. Those boys? Beatings, that's all they have given me. Facility? Two missing horns and years of torture, plus a dead friend.

"**Wake up! Get up please!" I sobbed. "What magic? I'm no magician!"**

**A bullet shot through and cut the skin above my cheekbone.**

I grip my head. Is it really this hard to get to a fcking building? It's fourteen feet away dmmit!

**"Hey you I'm talking to you!" he screamed at me. I didn't reply, I just stared at my milk-stained bag. "What happened to your bag? Somebody poured milk on it and it smells really gross."**

**"He asked you a question," the second snapped, "you freak!"**

**He pushed me and the first tripped me, making me let out a small yelp and crash to the ground, their laughter ringing in the room. **

**"You know, I heard that they found you all alone in a field. I bet your parents abandoned you because you had those freaky horns sticking out of your head!" **

**He grabbed an umbrella and wrapped the handle around my ankle as I fought to get up. "OOPS!"**

…

**"SISTER!"**

…

**I turn to said captor to see Yuki, looking almost…sympathetic…through her friendly smile.**

…

**Imaginaryhead1985: LOL, but how do you change info?**

**ChickMagnet47: Why?**

**I blink at the screen. Imaginaryhead1985: Reasons.**

**Freaksingledout1:3: I read it, and I think it's actually funny in a way.**

**I smile. Imaginaryhead1985: Yeah, if u say so.**

…

**Who's your best friend?**

**She's dead.**

…

"**Kaede!" someone calls. "Look what I found!"**

**A younger me, four, is sitting on a rock, jingling the collection of bells that chimes. The breeze is light, and my cap is small, my little pink hair fully covered. I turn to a little girl, my age, with the same length of white hair and big, and I mean BIG, red eyes bigger than her stomach. She's pale and she's wearing a little white shirt, a pink tutu, and black torn leggings. Cute, may I admit, but revealing that she's my sister by guess. She presents a boy, holding him by the hood of his jacket. He's my age, and struggling. She hugs him and I raise a brow, giggling (never thought I could).**

"**Level, put him down."**

"**Oh, can't we keep him?" she begs, squeezing the living daylights out of him.**

"STOP IT!" I scream. "STOP!"

I scream and ram my head into a wall, but it doesn't work. Why? Why won't this stop?

**He jumps and Level and I laugh. Zero walks in, carrying some piece of paper and holds it to me. "I made this for you Ka!"**

…

**I feel at them and they are indeed half-way. I smirk. I'm remembering more and more, but what about that mark? Did he ever tell me? Oh SH*T I hate it when hitting someone's head causes amnesia! "Hey, Zero?" He stares at me. "Did you know anyone named Kaede?"**

…

**I nod and brush a strand of hair from my temple. She screams and I raise a brow, my temple somehow stinging. I feel at it to a deep cut, something stuck in their. I wince as I dig my nails in, dodging muscle as best as I can and drag out a long shotgun cartridge. She covers her mouth, her eyes wide and worried. I blink down at the cartridge and watch as Zero walks in, freezing when he finds the bullet. "I think this is yours," I snap, lifting it up.**

**Yuki blinks and looks from me to Zero. "Z-zero, what does she mean by that?"**

**Zero blinks, speechless. Level eight out of thirty, baby! He sighs and walks forward, plucking the bullet from my palm and examining it. He raises a brow and returns it, sober. "No, mine was bigger."**

**"ZERO!" Yuki gasps.**

**Zero sighs and turns slightly to her. "Yuki, let's just say…"**

I clutch the edges of a brick and glare up at the old building. I push myself forward and grab the door frame, pulling myself in. The door slams shut and I hear someone chuckling in one of the above levels. "Welcome, Kaede Jima. I am Twenty-Eight…

"…prepare to die!"

**Review, review, review!**


	21. Level 21

**At the same time as last chapter: Zero and Ichiru**

**Normal POV**

Both Kiryu twins stare at the ceiling of Zero's dorm, the tops of their heads leaning against the other. "Zero?" Ichiru breaks the uncomfortable silence.

"Hn?"

"Do you really think Kaede meant all that?"

Zero huffs and shuts his eyes. "No. Yes, maybe, I DON'T KNOW!"

Ichiru shuts his mouth immediately. The door opens and they turn to Yuki, her sad face mixed with confusion. "Guys, where did Kaede go?"

"Left," both answer.

"Shouldn't come back," Zero mutters.

Yuki raises a brow. "Why? She just waved at me and disappears!"

Ichiru huffs. "I don't know."

"If she made you sad or WHATEVER, it's probably revenge for what _you _did to _her!_"

Zero's heart stops. He considers:

She left.

She made them hate her.

She doesn't come back.

Zero leaps onto his feet and grabs his Bloody Rose, Ichiru blinking. "What are you doing?" he asks.

"Kaede _didn't _mean it Ichiru!" Zero gasps. "She's trying to sever the bonds! She's in trouble!"

"Doing what?"

Zero thinks and drops everything. "The...The Levels! All the insane Levels!"

Ichiru gulps. Yuki covers her mouth. "No! If they do that..."

Zero nods. "They have more vectors...they'll kill her."

They are all silent and immediately get prepared in three seconds before racing out the door. "KAEDE! BE ALIVE! KAEDE!"

Zero squeezes his eyes shut and cries with all the air in his lungs, "KAEDE! DON'T LEAVE EVERYONE!...DON'T LEAVE ME!"


	22. Level 22

Something rumbles. Twenty-eight cackles and the ceiling collapses, a girl with twenty-one vectors protruding. I growl and use a stone to my advantage, cutting her temple easily with the stone. Her vectors disappear, but she manages to dodge my own, getting next to me and sinking her fangs into my throat. I scream and grab a section of her hair, yanking the fangs out and kicking her stomach, blood splattering all over my upper arm as she pukes it up. I wrinkle my nose at the metalic odor and slam her into the ground, keeping a foot on her stomach and using my other hand to snap her neck. I stand up, covering the bite.

_Oh sht you better heal quick! _I hiss inside. "Sir! Something's in the old building!"

_Double sht! _I scanned the area and started running forward. Cracks adorned all the walls. Blood smeared some of them. 'Help' was even drawn out with a piece of green arm pinned below it. I gagged and ran faster. Anything to get this over with. The levels apparently live in an unhealthy environment, so they shouldn't be as healthy as they seem to be. They are also extremely untrained. Footsteps echo slowly, so I slow my pace to a stop and jump behind a corner. "Twenty-one is dead," I hear Twenty-nine giggle. "Lucy~Lucy~"

I grip my skirt and take a deep breath, running out from behind the corner to swing my foot at the side of her face. "It's Kaede!" I laugh.

She smacks into the wall and growls. "Why you..."

Twenty-nine vectors slice my skin. I scream and glass shatters. I look to see Level's doll flying through. It explodes in white light, throwing both Twenty-Nine and I back. She screams in pain as she goes through a wall, wires and such in it cutting her arms and flesh apart as she flies through. I stand to see Level, Jiah, Yaui, Mia, Cassie, and Lexeme. "Thanks!" I call.

"No pro-" Mia starts. A shot rings and she falls to the ground.

"Sht!" I mutter. "RUN! SOLDIERS!"

Lexeme glares and pushes herself towards somewhere. Twenty-Nine recovers, red all over. She screams, fangs cracked in half (ouch!). "LEVELS! KILL LUCY! USE 3547 AS THE LAST RESORT!"

The whole building shakes and the ceilings of futher levels collaspe, so I jump out of the way and through a window. Level rushes over and helps me up, two Levels tackling Level herself and the thirty vectors her only hope of living. I force my vectors out despite my bad condition of scrapes and slices, decapitating the one with seventeen vectors. The one with twenty-two vectors has her neck snapped by my beloved twin. I turn to the street farther down to see rushing tanks and troops. "There's Lucy!" a soldier cries.

"Aim!"

I rush forward. "LEVEL! TAKE AS MANY LEVELS OUT AS YOU CAN!"

"YOU MEAN BAD ONES RIGHT?" she laughs.

"YES! NO TIMES FOR JOKES ASHOLE!"

I just _know _she pouts. I push my vectors forward and several soldiers decapitate, some split down the middle. Someone shoots my leg and I scream. _I need to keep going! PLEASE!_

_**...**_**Merge the vectors.**

_WHAT?_

**Just do it.**

Whatever crack I'm on must be making me hear things...but I try it despite. To tell all, the twenty vectors merge five in one, leaving me with four. They are easily seen, almost like silver. _I see...they last longer..._I smile and use two to jump up, twirling in mid-air and kicking a soilder straight in the face. I elbow one and swipe one vector a whole three-hundered, sixty degrees to wipe out all soldiers completely within my two meter limitation. Soldiers fire at Levels and Diclonius alike, and soon enough two new vectors decapitate someone behind me that I didn't catch. "LUCY!"

I gasp and turn to Yuka with Nana. I rush over, blocking as many bullets as I can. One clips the back of my neck. "What are you doing here?" I scold, towering over their squating figures. "This is a slaughter field!"

"Look at you!" Yuka takes out a cloth and dabs my face.

I wince. It hurts more than wanted to be. "Oh, so you came here to be the Red Cross?" I snap sarcastically.

"We came here for you!" Nana sighs. "If you don't want us..."

"Nana!" Yuka groans. "Lucy, please just be careful!"

"We-"

"KAEDE!"

I gasp and turn to Zero. "Z-"

Cold. Someone shot me in the head. I fall to the ground, Yuka shaking me. "Lucy?" she gasps. Nana protects the area with her vectors. Someone rushes over and shakes me roughly.

"LUCY!"

Zero. Ichiru. Both of them. "GET BACK!" I hear the crunch of bone as if a metal rod struck a twig. Yuki.

I wince and fade instantly. I'm in an area of black. _This is death? _I think.

**No. **

I turn to blue light and white figures. I gasp. I don't care if this is a dream or not. There, standing in blue light..._"MOM!"_

**Reveiw~**

**Sorry it was so fast and short, but Battle is like that. You don't know what happens.**

**Yes, the bullet struck Lucy because she was too distracted to see it.**


	23. Level 23

The figure chuckles and waves. **Hello Kaede**

I land on invisible ground. "LUCY!" I hear. Still Zero. I feel something hot and wet. A tear. Two and two together I guess. "LUCY! PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD! PLEASE! I'M SORRY! JUST PLEASE! I'M S-SORRY!"

Jeez, and I thought _I _had break downs...I shake my imaginary head. I can't make fun of him for being upset. I mean...I did use the same method he used. He knew how I felt back then when he used it. Except he remembers. I forgot my entire life. I smile. _"Mom...how are you..."_

**Easy, **she laughs. **You're insane.**

_"I got that," _I chuckle. _"But how am I able to still think? Still hear?"_

**Easy. You're not dead.**

_"Huh?"_

**You're part **_**vampire **_**Kaede. Normal bullets don't particulary work on them well. Plus, it was the back of your head. **

_"But..."_

**But what?**

_"There's a catch..."_

She giggles. **Oh my. Yes indeed. Seeing that you're part vampire, human, shape-shifter, and dragon for only God knows why. You have two options here, one you're not particularly used to. When you were born, we saw you had horns, yes. Level was also one not normal, seeing her vectors were wrapped around her like a blanket. Each Level here is part vampire. You...**

**...You are no exception.**

**So, no, you don't commonly drink blood, but it is very difficult for you to die. You merged your vectors, even after you forgot you even had them, as a defense. Do you hear that bullet fire? Do you hear the crying? Do you hear all those orders Level is issuing?**

I strain to hear anything, what with the constant bullet fire and apparently grenades they had brought out. "She's breathing," Zero sighs in relief.

"It must've hit the back of her head or skimmed!" Yuka hugs me.

_"GET OFF!" _

She can't _hear _me, so I'm stuck with her on me. Zero keeps shaking me though. "Kaede wake up! PLEASE! Don't...don't do this again! I don't want you to forget everything you just got back!"

"LEVELS!" Twenty-Nine cackles. "COME ON! JOIN ME! JOIN TWENTY-EIGHT!"

"In you're dreams!" Yaui shrieks.

_"Go, go, btchy-cha!" _I laugh.

Mom rolls her eyes. **Well. Choose. Either live, or give yourself to death. Choose.**

I'm actually tempted to say die, so I can stay with my parents. But..._**Kaede. Kaede, Kaede. Kaede. Kaede. Kaede. **_That's Level, wanting her twin. I can't necessarily blame her, seeing we've been separated for so many years without each other, without friends...without our parents...I straighten, even if I'm just a mere illusion of my imagination at the minute (or unconsciousness if you will). _"I choose to live. For Level. For Zero. For all my friends. Rest in peace Mom, Dad. I love you forever."_

She smiles and fades. I'm all alone in the black area, all alone to my thoughts. Lilium plays slowly, just like it does in the music box. I close my illusion eyes and smile, waiting for life to breathe into me. _Come on..._

"Kaede!"

I open my eyes. Zero smiles and hugs my neck. "KAEDE!" he cheers.

"Jeez kid, mature a little," I chuckle.

He helps me up and I face the battlefield. Level Eighteen, identified by her vector count, is no longer MIA, I guess. I laugh softly and pat Zero's head. I turn to Yuka and Yuki, who both are beaming. I can just tell I'm getting smothered once this is over. "Okay, so, everyone try to use vampire weapons against them," I turn back and smirk, my vectors blocking another bullet. "Let's finish this, BEFORE my head starts to hurt."

I charge forward. The end begins when a blood vector forces the rest of the building to collaspe.

**Review~**

**Again, sorry for short chapters**

**It happens when you're tired and want to complete something, ya know?**


	24. Level 24

Previously...

_He helps me up and I face the battlefield. Level Eighteen, identified by her vector count, is no longer MIA, I guess. I laugh softly and pat Zero's head. I turn to Yuka and Yuki, who both are beaming. I can just tell I'm getting smothered once this is over. "Okay, so, everyone try to use vampire weapons against them," I turn back and smirk, my vectors blocking another bullet. "Let's finish this, BEFORE my head starts to hurt."_

_I charge forward. The end begins when a blood vector forces the rest of the building to collaspe._

Now...

Level runs up next to me, hugging me at the _worst possible time._ "Kaede-onee-chan~" she smiles.

"See what idiot you're following?" Twenty-Nine snaps at Jiah, Cassie, and Yaui. "I want her to love her own grandchild, but that's never happening!"

"You're doing all of this just because she didn't pay every atom of attention to you?" I snort. "Talk about a br-"

The blood vector grabs me, Level trying to hold on, but to be quite frank, they must've put _tons _of blood in the vector, because it's stronger than her. It jerks me to the building rubble and through any remaining floor, taking me to a basement. Apparently, it's more than fourty-yards in range. A guy, maybe my age, is there, black haired and scarred all over the right arm. His face is pretty handsome, pale as Snow White though. His eyes are red and he smiles stupidly. "You're pretty," he stands from a rickety chair. "I'm 3547. I'm bored."

"THIS IS YOUR LAST RESORT?" I scream, pushing at the vector.

"3547!" Twenty-nine groans. "Not resorting yet!"

"But I'm bored!" he snaps.

She actually seems s_cared _of him. "D-Don't care! Put her down!"

"MAKE ME!"

I tap his vector and he looks at me. My expression is none other than bored. "Do you really not hear all that gun-fire?" I point to the battlefield. "Levels are dying, so-"

A Bloody Rose bullet enters his leg. He screams and drops me, the vector cringing. Zero appears, shooting Twenty-Nine right in between the eyes as she turns. She is no longer. "Let her go!" he orders.

I run up next to him, waving my hands. "WHOA! WHOA! SLOW DOWN! JEEZ!"

Guns stop firing. I blink and look up to only several left. Those are Yuka, Yuki, Nana, Level, Cassie, Lexeme (she apparently was off at the back), and Yaui. All rest are dead. "Uh, too late for that," Lexeme laughs nervously, rubbing the back of her neck.

I face-palm. "You two are _so _similar in _many _ways..."

"DON'T IGNORE ME!"

The blood vector shoves me into another building. Thankfully it wasn't head first, just my right arm. Unfortunately, my entire right arm shattered because of that. I scream and my vectors fade. So much for fighting. Level and Yaui run over. Cassie and Lexeme dash for the blood vector. Zero shoots him again and Ichiru, covered with blood at a distance for having slaughtered Twenty-Eight (go, go, Ichiru-kun!), chucks the dagger-like-thing he uses to kill vampires. It goes through the vector, slicing it shorter to actually cause a waterfall of blood. I hold my nose and Cassie passes out, Lexeme with her. Level and Yaui also. "Guys?" I shake Level.

She weakling groans. "Man...something in that blood is _B-A-D..._"

She falls into unconsciousness and I run in the center of the battlefield, comletely ancient building rubble by now, and drag Cassie and Lexeme next to the other two as fast as I can. "JIAH!" I call. I find her dead on the ground. Oh right. "Crp, crp, crp," I mutter. "NANA!" I scream. "GET YUKA AND YUKI OUT OF HERE!"

"What-" Yuki starts.

Nana nods and starts forcing them away. 3547 protrudes from the basement and into the battlefield. All there is for any fighting hope is Ichiru, Zero, and me. I sigh and shake my head in disappointment. "This is what I call bulltsht."

"You cuss a lot," both Kiryu twins point out.

"I don't know what the fck you're talking about btches," I chuckle. "HEY 3547! COME AND GET US!"

"She's also crazy," Zero shakes his head.

The vector rushes for us and I jump forward, moving my vectors like a fan behind me. I twirl and the blood vector chops up marginally. He's smart enough to pull it back. "HEY!" he pouts. "NO FAIR!"

"You're the one with a solid blood vector!" Ichiru chucks another vampire-killing dagger.

It goes into his arm. He screams once more and the blood vector cringes. "He has a certain weakness against these," Ichiru notes.

"And Bloody Rose bullets," Zero shoots for 3547.

He dodges and pushes Zero back a ways. Zero lands on his back, Bloody Rose skidding off to a distance. Zero rushes up. The blood vector tries for him, but I rush in front of it, using my vectors to push it back. "HOLY SHT HOW MUCH DOES THIS WEIGH!" I grunt. Once it's heavy for my vectors, it's not human weight, buddy.

"Kiryu!"

The three of us turn to the headmaster. I see Yagari behind him. "Yagari-sama!" I wave. "A LITTLE FCKING HELP APPRECIATED!"

3547 tries to snatch his vector back, but Yagari fires a shotgun and another blood waterfall knocks me into the ground, soiled to the underwear with blood. Headmaster tosses Zero the Bloody rose. Yagari chases 3547. Ichiru and Headmaster are gentlemen enough to help me up. "Jeez," Ichiru sighs.

I turn to the pile of unconscious Levels. "What does this blood do to them?"

"It's the scent," Headmaster sighs. "It must be overwellming their senses."

"NO! GET AWAY!"

Yagari's shotgun is fired. Blood flies into the air with one last blood waterfall. Ichiru and I blink. "Huh," we say, "easier than anticipated."

Yagari and Zero come out. "What do you expect?" they smirk. "I'm the-"

They glare at the other. I roll my eyes and start clutching my arm, making the vectors I forced out disappear. I sigh, "Another day...a total _waste_. Level made it completely sound like they were a fcking threat! Ooh! I'm _so _scolding her for wasting my sulking time!"

I hear Zero chuckle. Headmaster and Ichiru just laugh. Yagari rolls his eyes...or eye, I know. I pick up Level and Cassie. Level opens her eyes weakly. "You smell bad."

"Yeah, well, you suck at determining threats pussy," I mutter.

**Review~**

**Not done yet! I MUST GET THIS TO THIRTY CHAPTERS! Luv you~**


	25. Challenge Level! Level 25

**Challenge Level!**

After _that _total let-down, we're all shipped off to a hospital (despite my constant and repetitive protests and threats of suing Zero and Ichiru for forcing me). According to them, the constant running around forced some bones to splinter and (unknown to them) the forcing out of my vectors in times of pain caused 'unexplainable' cracks in my rib-cage. Even then I still refused to sit in a dmn hospital bed. So, here I am, having been forced in one by dmn Ichiru and Zero, who I still curse as much as my 'little heart' can! Level, Lexeme, Cassie, and Yaui are all in a separate room. I'm not sure what is to be done about all of the deceased Levels.

Someone knocks on the door. I huff and chuck some plush-duck someone left as a 'Get Well Soon' present I don't honestly need. "Go away!" I whine, hoarse. "Or face the wrath of plush toys!"

They chuckle, in which making me chuck a plush elephant next. Zero enters, holding _yet another fcking plushie_. I swear I'm going to decapitate the next one to even come across the door frame. I glared at the little munchkin curse (yeah I'm pssed) as if to challenge it in a Coliseum duel. Honestly, I freeze and question on how much longer my mental stableness can last. "You're cranky," Zero drops the fcking donkey plush in between my horns.

"Remember who can twist your guts right here, right now, punk as," I growl, pointing to the floor with the 'here' and 'now'.

He laughs softly and sits next to me, cautious of the multitude of annoying wires and tubes protruding from either my body or the various machines semi-circling the headboard of my stupid, unwanted bed. With that thought, I look under my blanket to check for 'IPS' or 'Immediate Period Syndrome'. That answer is a rueful yes. "Dude, keep your blood to yourself," Zero covers his idiotic grin that I'd _love _to rip off his pale face. "So, any better?"

"I was _better _in the first dmn place!" I constantly beat him with his gift.

"Hey! HEY! OW! PLUSH-TOYS HURT!" he laughs.

I laugh, but in the more violent sense. The door opens once more to Ichiru, thankfully not holding any more plush-toys certainly due for a decapitation. Instead, he has a simple box of pocky. Something I can live with that I won't kill for once in my life. "Hey," he waves. "Are you beating up my twin?"

"No," I sarcastically roll my eyes. "I'm just fluffing his poor excuse for hair."

"That's it," Zero sighs, stuffing the donkey plush in my mouth. "Time to sleep."

"NO!" I spit out the plush (rather unnecessarily to). "You might take my freedom, but you are NOT forcing me into a curfew! REBEL!"

I freeze and search around for any traces of heroine, crack, cocaine, or any other drug that comes to mind. Zero laughs. Ichiru just pats my head and pushes me back in the back gently as I scowl. "Okay, they gave you a tiny amount of pain-killers. You've had them before."

"Mom pulverized them with a mallet, remember?" I scoff.

They smile. "Didn't think you remembered that," they chuckle.

"Ugh! NO TWIN MYSTIQUE!" I fluff their faces with pillows (anyone else seeing red?). "It's bad for the cholesterol."

"Uh…" Ichiru inches for the door. "I think I'll…"

"Don't you-"

Ichiru darts out while locking the door behind him. He must've forgot that it locks _inside_, not _out_. I tug on Zero's jacket, so he turns. "Don't want to be left alone with me?" I bat my eyes annoyingly.

He rolls his eyes and ruffles my head. "Oh yeah, yeah…"

He sits, looking a little more depressed than his usual Emo-self. "Something up?" I cock my horned head to the side.

"Meh, just some dcks asking to see the Headmaster and the Association riding up my as about the 'massacre'. It's annoying, you know?"

"I believe so, since you're telling me it is," I shrug.

He pats my head. "Huh, pain meds must be wearing off."

"They don't feel like it," I blink my red-pink eyes. The only thing I feel is a headache."

He nods, obviously not believing a word coming out of my mouth. "Ah."

He seems distracted. "Something wrong?" I poke his cheek.

He sighs. "It's nothing."

I hug him from behind, his breath hitching. "Tell me, or I'm hugging the stuffing out of you," I laugh.

He sighs and sets a hand on my own, making me raise a brow. _What the fu-_"Can I tell you something?"

"Sure," I shrug. "Not like it's vile."

He chuckles. "Yeah…I guess…" He looks at me from the corner of his eye. "Remember when we were little, our parents took us to some stuck-up party?"

I laugh a little. "Actually no."

He pats my head. "Well, try, alright? It's in that memory."

He walks out, leaving me pouting. I scream after him, "DMN CRYPTIC EMO!" I hear his laugh all the way in here, so I stick up the bird at nothing and pass out.

**Review~**


	26. Level 26

I sit on the bed in my dorm. "Finally discharged! I felt like I was going to French the next doctor I saw…" I plop backwards on the bed and close my eyes, smiling. "Now let's date back…what does Zero want me to remember so much?" I drift off to sleep in my quest of remembering (as corny as the title sounds).

"**Kaede," Mom smiled, "stay here with Level, okay?" **

**Mom and Dad walked off, in honestly useless hopes of finding any other friends that they didn't have. It was pretty hard considering Dad and his eccentric personality. Later, the Kiryu family arrived, Mrs. Kiryu and Mr. Kiryu both in attire I thought only belonged on…well…'lovey, gooey dates for grown ups' to quote Little Me. Level was clinging to me, her puffy-sleeved, white lace dress preventing her to move due to the length (I swear she tripped every two seconds she walked in that thing). "Ooh! Ichiru!" she waved.**

**I tried pushing her hand down. "Level, s-"**

"**Level!" Ichiru ran over, hugging Level. "You pretty~"**

"**Thank you!" Level beamed.**

**Zero walked over, looking slightly indifferent. "Hey Kaede," he waved once.**

**We were what? Seven? I waved to. "Hey. This is boring!" I whined.**

"**Eh, we have to live with it," he sighed, climbing into the chair next to me. **

"**Hello!" a girl with pigtails skipped up. **

I recognize her. It's Yak, the big-mouthed slut. **I waved. "Hello."**

**She ignored me completely, making me freeze and look gloomy. She tugged on Zero's nice-shirt sleeve. "Let's dance!" she begged.**

**Zero shook his head. "No. I want to stay with my best friend, Kaede."**

**She blinked. "Who?" Zero pointed over to me. "Oh…later?"**

"**No. Not later."**

**She pouted. "Meanie."**

"**I'm not mean for wanting something," he rolled his eyes, scooting closer to me. She huffed and skipped off. Zero turned to me and chuckled at my head. "That's **_**so **_**like you."**

**I feel at the cap. "So what? I had to scream on the top of my **_**body **_**to get Mom to let me wear my cap."**

"**Why do you wear it anyways? Balding spot?"**

"**Oh you've seen me with ribbons! I'M. NOT. GOING. BALD."**

"**You positive?"**

**I smacked his arm as he laughed at my annoyance. "Meanie," I pouted.**

"**Hey, I live to play that role," he lies on his back, setting his head on my lap, looking up at me. "Just for **_**you**_**." He poked my nose playfully.**

**My nose, being the btch is has all my life, wriggled and he laughed. "Oh shut up!" I flicked his head.**

"**Like I said," he smiled, "I live to be your 'meanie'."**

"**Meaning you live to be my future husband?" I joked.**

"**Y-Yeah," he chuckled nervously, eyes shut.**

**I didn't see it then. **But now I do. I sit up, eyes wide and mouth open. I swear a fly soars in, so I spit and rake my nails on the surface of my tongue. A gnat. Gross. I wipe my nails on the ground and look over to the laptop. I pick it up and open it, logging on.

Imaginaryhead1985: Logged on.

Kota'sGF4EVER: Hey Imaginary. Feeling any better?

Imaginaryhead1985: Meh.

ChickMagnet47: What IS Meh?

Limibitisky74: It's 'M' and 'Eh' combined.

ChickMagnet47: F. U.

Imaginaryhead1985: U forgot 'C' and 'K', sex offender.

Limibitisky74: XD

ScrewedDuo21: Logged On

Imaginaryhead1985: YO! *glomp*

ScrewedDuo21: Eh?

Limibitisky74: Screwed and Imaginary sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G~

Imaginaryhead1985: _l_ Oh, and screwed, me's remember's~

I log off and someone barges in, so I scream and fall off the bed. "You do?" I hear Zero say.

I look up to see his beaming like it's fcking Christmas morning, the stockings all pinned up with care. I scowl. "Yeah. You had to scare the fck out of me to-ACK!"

Yep. He's suffocating me in a hug. "Thank you," he whispers, smiling.

May I say how out of character this is of him. "GET OFF YOU CRACK-HEAD!" I snap.

He laughs (at least that's a bit normal) and pulls away. "So?"

"So what?"

He sighs, a little twitch in his eye. "You know…"

"What? Whether or not I want you to be my 'meanie'?" I chuckle.

He nods. "Well duh."

I shrug. "Well, you sort of already are, aren't you?"

He smiles and pats my head. "Thanks."

Suddenly, his lips come down on mine. They're warm, may I say. I'm still, but my lips move on their own. My eyes shut and I kiss back with all of me, well, except Nyuu. Something in my chest flutters as he licks my lower lip. Before my mouth can open, someone knocks, so he pulls away with a pouting expression. I pat his head, rolling my eyes, and walk to the door, opening it to a slightly worried Headmaster. "What's with you?" I ask.

"It's the Senate and the Vampire Hunter Society," he gulps. "Uh…they have a problem with your sister."

I blink. "What sort of-"

Yaui runs up, panting. "Lucy-sama! The vampire hunters are thinking of killing off the Levels!"

Oh. _That _sort of problem…AHH!


	27. Level 27

"What the _hll_ do you mean exterminating the Levels?" I slam my hands on the desk. "It's not their fault the others were lunatics!"

The Hunter Society President chuckles, covering his mouth with a fan (at least I _think_ it's a he…NOBODY HAS TOLD ME! Jeez…). "Yes, but the next ones might."

"Oh, the direct spawn hath yet gone psycho," I point out, arms crossed.

"Hey!" Yaui pouts.

Level sighs. "It sucks that she's the only one that isn't my direct egg..."

My eye twitches and I turn to Zero and Yagari. "Are you two just gonna stand there or help?"

Ichiru comes in, panting. "What's this about exterminating…LEVELS!" he falls forward.

Zero and Level help him up as I blink at him. "Easy. They think killing them is going help prevent more loony-cases."

"Well, that _could_ work, but who knows?" Ichiru straightens. "People have done blood work on Level before. They could just scientifically make more."

"We'd get rid of the blood," Ichio, the vampire senate douche glares.

I growl at him. "They already put all her blood data in the computers. If you plan to destroy the computers and slaughter everyone who remembers the blood-work, then you'd have a sht full of mess on your hands, mister." I turn completely towards him, my hands rolled up into fists. "It'd just be easier to make them attend Cross and have Mr. Cross here keep an eye on them, right?"

I turn and everyone's silent. "Uh…" Headmaster blinks. "Yes…"

"Why are you all so silent!" I scold.

"Because we're surprised someone of your IQ made _that _up," Zero chuckles.

I growl and charge at him, Level holding me back with her normal arms as I try to clobber him with my normal fists. "SAY THAT TO MY FISTS YOU JERK!"

"Meanie."

"OH SHUT THE FCK UP!"

Ichiru, Headmaster, Lexeme, Cassie, and Yaui stare as the Senate dck and the president sigh. "And we're supposed to go along with this lady's plan?" the president points his (her, I DON'T HAVE A CLUE) closed fan towards my struggling form.

I stop and Level lets go of me, turning to him. "She's not an idiot!" she defends. "She just has a slight temper…But seriously! Killing us means you'd have to exterminate a rare race. That's just genocide!"

"She's right! Besides, Levels are part vampire!" Cassie steps forward. "We're not Level E's, so we don't go under the Senate or the fcking Society."

"Uh, Cas," I sigh.

"Until we actually go under your rules and regulations and tea parties, NO WAY IN HLL!"

"Mom and Dad were hunters," Level intervenes.

Cassie freezes and Lexeme pats her back. "It's alright. You were born stupid."

"SHUT UP!" Cassie clobbers Lexeme behind the head.

"Hey stop fighting!" Yaui separates them as they try to clobber the other into nothing. "Jeez…"

Yagari points to them, his cigarette dropping ash by ash. "See that? They're not the same as you. They're-"

"Fourth human," I inform. "Fourth dragon. Fourth shape-shifter. Fourth vampire. That is what Diclonius and Levels are. It's all because of us," I motion between Level and I.

"How could you have…" the president starts.

"Father was an aristocrat," Level slumps. "He also had the shape-shifter and dragon blood. And please don't ask how a _dragon_ did it with a _shape-shifter_ because it should be quite obvious!"

"Don't ask how that's even possible either," I huff. "Either her research got messed up with _Harry Potter_, or she got the info, but not the back-up."

"Sister…" she hangs her head with gloom.

Cassie sighs and holds a knife to her neck. "Well, see you guys down in Hll while I'm in Heaven."

"Hey!" Yaui snatches the knife (she fcking says that WAY too much…).

Lexeme chuckles. "You only die when we kill ya'," she pats Cassie's head.

"Gee thanks."

I walk up to the Senate douche and poke his chest offensively. "See? Perfectly weirdos. Kill them, I kill you harshly and painfully by gutting your inners and feeding them to crying babies in the nursery." Everyone takes a step or out-the-door away from me. I blink at the empty air and look around to the empty room. "Babies," I mutter, crossing my arms.

"You know, I think we can let them live," Ichio coughs. "Good day."

Zero enters with a slightly horrified expression. "You and your twisted mind," he shakes his head.

I walk past him and pat his butt, making him tense up and shudder. "Get used to it, meanie."

As I walk down the hall with the Levels following, a thick _**THUMP**_ is heard as someone falls down. "Uh…what'd you do to Zero?" Ichiru calls.

"Nothing, just thought I'd give him a taste of Hanabusa's medicine with the Day chicks," I shrug, walking down the hall and eventually chasing the Levels for 'stalking me like Santa with kids'. Yep. I believe this 'no facility' junk has all gotten to my head and now I'm acting like a complete idiot. Thank you, oh so wonderful LIFE.


	28. Level 28

"Cool~" girls swarm us. "So, you twins?"

"No."

"Really? But you look SO identical!"

Level points to me, sitting at her left. "_SHE'S _my twin."

I sense a dark aura as the girls all glare at me. "I bet she's super mean to Level," someone whispers.

A bookshelf *cough* 'suddenly collapses'. "Would you like to repeat that?" I stare blankly at the page of my book.

Some flee from the library. Zero enters and pats my head. Yuki rushes in like a lunatic and tackles me from the side, crushing my rib-cage and sending both us and the chair crashing into the floor, my eyes wide. "LUCY!~" she hugs me tighter. "SO, how's your day~"

"Get. Off."

Lexeme picks her off, her black jacket over her uniform. Level? Yep, her jacket is over the uniform (those two are ridiculous I swear it). At least Cassie has her jacket off! Yaui is just in the uniform to, so am I. Twilight starts to arrive and I sigh, standing and returning the book to the shelf. I turn to Level, who's already standing. "Race you to the gates."

"Don't have to say it twice!"

We shove each other and dash along-side the other as we try to get there first, the result being a tie since Zero's a complete grump and caught us, dragging us both to the gates slowly. "MEANIE!" Level pinches him.

"That's not going to help."

I smile a little and stare at the sky. "You know? This is a whole lot nicer than dying almost every which way."

Cassie chuckles and nods. "Yep, way better than getting shot at."

Yaui jumps on her back. "HORSIE!"

Okay, who snuck into our dorms and slipped us crack? I'm serious; this is getting WAY too disturbing. "GET OFF!"

Level and I laugh and Lexeme placidly chats with an energetic Yuki. Eventually we reach the gates and it's already and mob. I sigh and bite Zero's hand. He yelps and holds it as I race to the front and whistle naturally. "Yo, get away you stalking dim-wits."

"Hey!" they complain. "Meanie!"

"No, that's Zero," I slump. "That, and…" a tree snaps, Lexeme face-palming. "I REALLY don't want my patience tested."

They blink and take ten steps back. Yuki blows on her whistle and Zero steps in front of his crowd, them all whispering how perfect Zero and I would be for each other. I chuckle. _Too late. _The gates open and the Levels go to two on each side as I account for each Night Class Student. "So, you got some more help?" Ruka comes up.

"Yep," I nod, checking her name off. "Ichiru's also going to help out starting tomorrow, but today he's trying to get his things, consisting of air and air."

She chuckles and Hanabusa comes up, pouting. "Hey jerk-wad! I still remember you're little remark yesterday in the Chat Room!"

"And?" I check off his name and write 'maybe in a car accident soon…MAYBE' next to 'Aido'.

"May I remind you it was completely rude!"

"So was telling Ruka 'F. U'. I mean you could at least be decent enough to finish spelling."

Ruka laughs and someone taps her shoulder. She turns to that Class President. "Hello R-Ruka!" he gulps. "Will you accept these?" he offers flowers.

I chuckle and crush them into flat lines with my vectors. "What exactly are you offering her?"

He walks away, saddened, as Ruka rolls her eyes and pats my cap (what?). "That's you. Well, see you later I hope."

I nod and work continues throughout the night with patrol. I walk outside the building when I bump into Zero. "Oh hey," I wave. "How's patrol so far?"

"As boring as usual," he yawns.

I roll my eyes. "Remember it's for a purpose."

He pats my cap and keeps walking. I sigh and keep walking myself before he stops me with asking, "Would you hate me if I told you I hated vampires?"

I stare at the ground, some wind playing with my hair. I smile and turn to look at him. "No. It's your opinion, Zero. It's not my right to change it."

He smiles a little in return. "Thanks."

"Eh, no problem," I shrug. I add sadly, "It's the least I can do after what I've done in life."

Someone kisses my cheek (to myself: Now who do you THINK?). I blink and once the warm lips remove from my cold cheek, I turn to Zero, his hand on my shoulder. "We've all done things in life. Everyone has sinned, or whatever. You can't stop it."

I sigh and pat his head. "Not making me feel better, but thanks for trying."

"Glad to be of service," he chuckles.

"Well," I take my hand back, "I'm going to report to the Head. Want to come with?"

"Sure. It's nothing but lack of sleep and frigid out here anyways."

We walk silently to the Headmaster's office to see Yuki shaking her head in disappointment while Headmaster is dancing around like a fairy. "What the fu-" I blink.

"The ball is tomorrow night~" Headmaster dances up to me, stars for eyes.

I blink and just walk out, using my vectors to destroy a stand. Zero comes out and sees both that and my absolutely horrified expression. "Oh this 'ought to be fun, huh?" he asks Yuki. She just nods.


	29. Level 29

"Hey, pass me the dmn potatoes!" Level yanks on my sleeve.

"No, you're fat enough as it is," I hold my potatoes away from her grabby hands.

"No she's not," Yaui blinks. "If anything, she's underweight."

"See? I NEED POTATOES!" Level begs.

"Why potatoes?"

"I LOVE POTATO! POTATO, I'M COMING FOR YOU!"

"I'm serious, where's the cr-ACK!"

Level pushes me off the bench at the lunch table and grabs my hand, wrestling my paper bowl of mashed potatoes out of my hand. She scoops up some with her fork and places her lips over the fork, beaming as she sucks on it. "Mom's such a baby," Cassie shakes her head.

"So are you," Lexeme reads _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_.

"Where'd that…oh never mind. Just remember we have to set up for the stupid ball tonight," I mutter. "IN. FIVE. MINUTES."

"Okay~" Level sings (wow, when things are calm, she's-). And she stuffs the little bowl in her mouth.

"AH!" we scream. I hit her back. "BACK LEVEL! SPIT IT OUT NOW!"

She starts to choke and I kick her back harshly, making the bowl fly into Yuki's back. "Oops," Level blinks.

Yuki twitches and Zero, next to her, takes the bowl off and offers her a napkin. She takes off her jacket and accepts the napkin, trying to scrub out the saliva and potatoes. Zero stands and leaves in a rush. I sigh and take her jacket. "I'll wash it for you, okay?" I smile. "It's just going to stain like that."

"Oh…thanks!" she giggles. "I really appreciate it."

I nod and walk out in search of the laundry room. I find it eventually and stick Yuki's jacket in, having no clue how the fck to use a washing machine and end up spilling detergent all over my skirt. "Well crp," I try to dust it off. "That's going to be hard to get o-" The door slams open and I turn to a panting Zero. "What's your problem?" I huff. "You nearly scared me half-to death. NEARLY."

"Get…Away…" he collapses.

"ZERO?" I scream, rushing over. I try helping him up, but let's just say he should visit a gym. "Holy dude visit a gym why don't you?"

"Get…GET AWAY!"

I blink as I'm suddenly standing, Zero behind me and tilting my head while pinning my arms to my sides. "Eh?" I blink. "ZERO! WHAT THE-" He licks my neck. "GET OFF OF ME YOU SEXUAL HARRASSER!" He opens his mouth and next thing you know, there's pain in my neck. A gruesome sound echoes and it's coming from my neck, where Zero's mouth is. _Wait…HEY I LIKE MY BLOOD DOOFUS! _"LET GO!" I wriggle. Let's just say he apparently _likes _my blood. "GET. _THE_. **FCK**. _**OFF**_!

I stomp on his foot, making him loose his grip slightly. I rip my right arm out and elbow his chest harshly, making his fangs drag across my neck and come out, Zero crashing into the floor. I wince and hold my bleeding neck, my vectors not able to come out unless if I want to snap my ribs again. He grunts and spits out some blood, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve and trembling, looking up with teary eyes. "K-Kaede…" he swallows. "I-I-I…"

I glare a little and sigh. "Great. Now I have to have a pain in the as- of a job to get all this blood cleaned up and this…bite mark hidden so I can help prepare for this dmn ball tonight!" I cross my arms, pouting. "Gee, tha-"

"KAEDE!" Zero flies up, hugging me tightly. Next thing you know, tears are soaking my uniform. "I-I-I-"

"Oh stop it," I push him off gently, wiping off his tears as he stares at me with blood-shot eyes. "So what? It's like stepping on a crack in the sidewalk, nobody cares," I shrug. "That, and tears don't look good on you."

He sniffles and I kiss the tip of his nose. "I…Okay…I'm ju-"

"You're still keeping it up," I poke his shoulder. The washing machine dings and I fetch out Yuki's jacket, shaking it to dry it out. You know I don't see why they put two *shrug*. "Anyways, I've got to return this to Yuki."

I pat his head. "Uh, Kaede," he calls.

"Yeah, yeah, you're sorry."

"Um…nah."

He walks away, smiling. Oh what's his deal?

Okay, not TWO of the same machine, TWO DIFFERENT machines. I scribble that on my arm in town as Yuki and Level and Lexeme and Yuri and Cassie look for dresses. Sayori is next to me, staring as I scribble with my tongue in my cheek. "You're not getting a dress, Lucy-chan?"

I shake my head. "Can't dance. Hate balls. Hey, you getting one to?"

"I already have one."

I slump. "Darn it…I was hoping I wasn't alone in my hating of balls."

"Oh come on!" Level complains. "It'd be fun!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"PLEASE!"

"You know, you act more like a baby sister than a twin."

She pouts and snaps her fingers, forcefully dragging me over to a stand, ruining my sentence. "Here!" she offers a dress. "It's perfect for you~"

I stare at it. "Uh…sure?"

She cheers and buys it. Then she automatically tries to put it on me over my normal clothes. "Yep, someone fed us crack," Cassie sighs. "Well, might as well take advantage of our misfortune." She kisses some random guy off the street and walks placidly back, the guy (actually a little cute) falls backwards, hearts and chirping birds flying around his head. "There~"

I run back to the academy screaming, "MY FAMILY IS A BUNCH OF LUNATICS!"

Like I said. C-R-A-C-K.


	30. Final Level! Level 30

**Final Level!**

The stars in the brilliant night sky twinkle as my twin, her spawn, and I make our way to the area where the ball is held. "I hope it's super fun!" Yaui cheers. "I really need a break after near genocide of the Levels."

"Me to," Cassie yawns. "How 'bout you Lexeme?"

She simply shrugs, her high 'V'-neck, black-silk dress that has that cut in it revealing part of the left leg. It's spaghetti-strap sleeves keep slipping because it's a size too large on her. Cassie has a crimson, long-sleeved dress that clings to her and ends at the mid-thigh. Yaui just has a tan sweater on with the sleeves pull down so her shoulders are showing and a long black skirt dragging on the ground (lucky btch). Me? Well…"Oh he-" Hanabusa starts to greet. Then he whistles. "Hello Lucy!"

"See? Bad idea," I hiss at Level.

"I think the dress looks nice," Yaui pats my back.

"Yeah!" Cassie nods. "It's better than mine."

"That's because you like gray," Lexeme sighs.

"Oh shut up," Cassie huffs.

Zero comes out, all dressed up in his usual school uniform. "Hey Level," he waves. "Kaede."

"EEP!" Nyuu/I gulp, ducking behind Level to prevent Zero from seeing the dress.

"Oh come on!" Level tries to fight me in front of her. "BE SEEN YOU UN-SOCIAL HERMET!"

"Says the girl who lived in an abandoned building," I sigh.

She eventually wins the fight (curse you) and I stumble out in the open in a knee-length, gray-silk dress with dark-gray lace trim and it's loose around my body, so it makes me look like a thin-model or whatever Yuki said earlier (yes, after I fled back to the academy earlier). Zero gaps and when he starts to drool, I stomp up and push his jaw up. "Sorry," he wipes the drool off of his lower lip. "It's just…WOW."

"Is wearing this dress the only thing that's going to make you drool?" I chuckle.

"Maybe if I saw you naked, then maybe that'd change."

"You've turned into QUITE the pervert," I snap, walking in with the gray, peep-toe strap heels clicking against the ground.

He laughs. "Just pointing it out."

"Wow," someone whispers. "Kaede-san is really pretty today."

"And look! She's dating Zero isn't she?"

"Wow! They look so happy together!"

"Aw~ So cute~"

I sigh and turn to Zero, following me around. "Oh stop trailing me you poodle," I cross my arms over my chest, the thin straps sliding down off my shoulders. "People are staring."

"So?" he takes my right hand. "It doesn't matter, does it? I mean, you got your memories back, we're back together, and no more guns!...Hopefully."

"Yeah," I nod with sarcasm. "Just add the 'hopefully' and it'll make everything all better."

He taps my shoulder and points to Ichiru talking to a smiling Level. "See? She's happy. Why aren't you?"

"Because I'm not," I pull my cheeks apart to make a smile, "'Mrs. I-Smile-Way-To-Dmn-Much'. That's HER job."

"Who's the Mister?" he chuckles.

"Ichiru, who else, dim-rod?"

He laughs and pulls me close, holding my left hand away from us and my right hand he places on his shoulder, his left going on my waist as his right holds my left (this is making my head hurt). "Shall I have this dance?"

I roll my eyes. "Oh just have it, see if I care when you get a heel on your toes."

He chuckles and takes a step to the left, my feet mirroring. "I think I can live with that."

In so, we start out slow, the Day Class chicks admiring as I manage not to kill someone with something other than my vectors (for once in my life =_=). In the middle of a slow twirl, I set my head on his chest, him looking down at my pink hair with gray ribbon ("IT'D BE SO CUTE! PLEASE KAEDE!"-is what Level forced me through until I agreed to wear the dmn ribbon) covering the horns. "Say, Zero? You think that the last levels of games are the hardest or…"

He shrugs. "Most of the time. But sometimes it just shows the happy ending the character has. Why?"

I smile and close my eyes. "No reason."

He chuckles and we stop dancing, Zero embracing me and pulling apart to bend down and press his warm lips to mine. I kiss back, wrapping my arms around his neck, and enjoying the moment to its complete extent. This…This is my final level.

_**This is my happy ending**_.


End file.
